college essay about asian culture

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Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

​In 7th grade, a classmate told the table that all East Asians were either  really  hot or  really  ugly. It won a few agreements, but I sat stunned. “What am I?” I demanded. His face scrunched up a little. At the time, I was 12-years-old, and I was plain. He, however, had summed up people who share my basic facial features as either the supermodels he saw in advertisements or the nameless mass of pinch-faced Chinese mobsters in movies. Eventually, he called me ugly. Between “ugly,” “hot,” and “what I said was stupid, sorry,” insulting me was the least embarrassing response for him.

In 9th grade, some boys on my bus asked me if I could see well. I replied that I was slightly near-sighted, but one of them corrected me, “No, I mean how wide do your eyes open?” I opened my eyes wide. They laughed and asked, “That’s it?”

In 11th grade, we learned about the violence inflicted by the Japanese during World War II. A girl in my grade joked, “I guess you have the killing blood, then.” I wondered if she ever told our German friend that she had the killing blood, too.

To put things in context, my school, le Lycée Rochambeau, an 11-acre chunk of land just outside Washington, D.C., teaches the national French curriculum in its original French. Thus, most students are from countries with cultural and historical ties to France, making it a mix of students of European, Arab, and African descent, an assorted fusion of international francophonie . 

In 2009, when I arrived at the Lycée from my San Franciscan home situated thirty minutes away from North America's largest Chinatown, I was the only Asian American on campus.

I was shocked. My classmates were shocked. Everyone was very confused at seeing me. I was an outsider even in diversity.

I’ve been asked every conceivable race-related question, often with good intentions, but negative implications. For lack of exposure to Asian Americans, my classmates sometimes just don't know better. As I befriended them, I learned to correct them, pleasantly but firmly. In the end, though, their words did affect me. I grew up justifying my ethnicity. I grew up convincing people my grades weren't a product of some intellect-enhancing gene or of Tiger Mom-induced overachievement, but of a neat trick called studying like everyone else. I grew up explaining that I was in a French school because my family and I value humanities and languages, not just math and sciences. I grew up consulted as the representative of all things East Asian, even though I’m just one person, born and raised in the U.S.

At first, my gut reaction to being different was to deny it. I didn’t actually tell people, “I’m not Asian,” but I did the subconscious equivalent and alienated myself from my ethnic identity. I played along with the stereotypes and told the jokes I knew kids would laugh at, about my high marks, my subpar P.E. scores, my “weird” food. I realize now how counterproductive it was, but at the time I believed I would be accepted, that I would be that “cool Asian” who wasn’t like the others, who could take a joke!

Ethnicity goes beyond being a joke. Racial stereotypes box us in. We only know what we see and hear. Asian Americans are told they’re good at math and science, don’t see many Asian CEOs, hardly ever see Asian actors, never study Asian authors: a vicious cycle of monkey-doesn’t-see-monkey-doesn’t-do.

Only recently have I even thought to distinguish my real passions from my socialized ones. I know now that, even if ethnicity is a meaningful part of me, how other people see it does not define me . My interest in art, languages, history, and geography is no less real than my interest in math because of the shape of my eyes or the tint of my skin.

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Asian Customs and Values

Preservation within american communities.

by Peter Klang

This essay discusses Asian American bicultural identity, traditional values and customs from root cultures, and how they are still practiced and celebrated by Asian American families and in communities. It also addresses the ways in which ethnic community influence the lives of the people it serves including residents, as well as how individuals of diverse cultural backgrounds can contribute to the lives of those around them .

Within a year of their arrival in 1850, Chinese immigrants in San Francisco established a Chinatown. Others soon followed. Boston’s Chinatown was established by 1875. Chinatown was then, as it still is now, a place of support and security where one could find a bed, job, and social services; a place of cultural familiarity where one could share common food, language, and customs. Excluded from the larger society, Chinatown was home.

Parallel patterns of community development occurred with Japanese immigrants who quickly established Japantown’s and Little Tokyo’s in the 1890’s and with Filipino immigrants who settled in Manilatown’s in the 1920’s up and down the West Coast. Immigrant communities erected villages and family associations which reproduced the social structure of their home villages. Temples and churches were built to preserve traditional religious practices while language schools were founded to maintain the language and cultural integrity of the younger generation. Asian language newspapers and periodicals reported on news in the homeland as well as relevant local affairs in the community.

Early Asian communities were predominantly male because young men had been recruited as laborers. Women could not join them because of U.S. Congressional exclusion acts. Without many women, children, or families, these “bachelor societies” were often lonely. In 1900, for example, Chinese men in the United States numbered about 85,000 while the number of Chinese women was less than 2,000. Social organizations and recreational activities played critical roles in building a sense of support and belonging. Nevertheless, with all new immigrants excluded and no women to produce a second generation, the communities were condemned to extinction.

Through a combination of ingenuity and serendipity, however, Chinese devised an “extra-legal” way to sustain their community’s future. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, which destroyed all birth and immigration records, many Chinese immigrants declared themselves to be U.S. citizens with children, usually sons, who were still in China. Since children of U.S. citizens were, by definition, also U.S. citizens, this process created openings on paper for Chinese children to enter the U.S. legally as citizens in spite of the exclusion acts if they could prove their identities.

For some, a Chinese American’s real son successfully joined him in this way. In a few cases, an immigrant’s wife joined him by pretending to be his daughter. Many others, however, purchased papers and assumed new identities as the only way to come to America. One reason for the harsh interrogations at Angel Island was government suspicion of “paper sons” who accounted for the most Chinese immigration between 1910 and 1940. Although technically “illegal,” the paper-son process was the only way to develop a second generation in the Chinese community during the exclusion years.

Like the Chinese, Japanese in America, and later Koreans, faced the irony of being recruited for labor, then left without the means to develop as community. To strengthen their communities before exclusion in 1924, many Japanese immigrant men wrote letters to their families in Japan to arrange marriages and have their brides come to America. Since the men could not afford the cost of going back to Japan to arrange the marriage directly, they sent pictures of them for their families to show around the village. Sometimes they used an earlier photo from when they were younger and better-looking or even the picture of a handsome friend in order to maximize their chance of being matched with an attractive bride. After a suitable mate was found, her picture was sent to the man in America. The family then held a formal wedding ceremony with the bride in Japan, and filed the marriage documents with both the Japanese and U.S. governments which cleared the way for the woman to join her new husband in America.

When the ships arrived from Japan, the women walked down the plank holding pictures of their husbands while the men waited on the dock holding pictures of their brides. As the picture brides and picture husbands met for the first time, many disappointedly discovered that the photographs did not match with reality! Nevertheless, most marriages lasted as this was the only way to establish Japanese family life and build healthy Japanese communities in America before this practice was outlawed in 1921 by the Ladies’ Agreement and before the Immigration Act of 1924 prevented further Japanese immigration to the United States.

The experiences of these Japanese or Korean picture brides as well as Chinese paper sons reflect the importance of community development as a way to survive in spite of exclusion.

A more recent example of the theme of community-building is the secondary migration of Southeast Asian refugees after their initial resettlement in the United States. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, federal policy mandated the dispersal of refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos across all fifty states in order to promote rapid assimilation and to discourage the formation of ethnic concentrations.

Not surprisingly, after their initial resettlement, Southeast Asians moved to areas like Texas and Southern California where they found the warmer climates, to which they were accustomed, and longstanding Asian communities. Many Cambodians settled in Lowell, Massachusetts during the 1980s, for example, because of job opportunities, availability of human services, and the presence of a Cambodian Buddhist temple. Despite the federal policy of dispersal, Southeast Asian refugees moved on their own to create new communities which enhanced their survival, security, and adjustment to American society.

By focusing on the theme of building community in the curriculum, students can see beyond the often distorted, stereotypic images of Asian communities as evil, mysterious, exotic places filled with gangsters, warlords and prostitutes, which Hollywood movies and network television so often portray. Furthermore, students learn to appreciate the value of ethnic communities because of the important roles they play in enabling people to survive. In contrast, dispersal and forced assimilation lead to isolation and failure.

As extensions, students can form their own Asian American or other community clubs in school and/or develop relationships with existing community organizations. Lessons on the community theme can also be easily developed in terms of immigrant history and literature using such historical novels as Yoshiko Ushida’s Picture Bride and videos such as The New Puritans: The Sikhs of Yuba City .

Geography and mathematics lessons can be developed using population figures for various locations to show changes over time, involving students as neighborhood and community researchers.

Additional Background Reading on Immigration

Immigration and Migration

Understanding Our Perceptions of Asian Americans

Asian Americans Then and Now

Asian Americans and US-Asia Relations

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6 Diversity College Essay Examples

What’s covered:, how to write the diversity essay after the end of affirmative action, essay #1: jewish identity, essay #2: being bangladeshi-american, essay #3: marvel vs dc, essay #4: leadership as a first-gen american, essay #5: protecting the earth, essay #6: music and accents, where to get your diversity essays edited, what is the diversity essay.

While working on your college applications, you may come across essays that focus on diversity , culture, or values. The purpose of these essays is to highlight any diverse views or opinions that you may bring to campus. Colleges want a diverse student body that’s made up of different backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and interests. These essay prompts are a way for them to see what students can bring to their school.

In this post, we will share six essays written by real students that cover the topic of culture and diversity. We’ll also include what each essay did well and where there is room for improvement. Hopefully, this will be a useful resource to inspire your own diversity essay.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. That said, you should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and they will not have a favorable view of students who have plagiarized.

In June 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of race in college admissions was unconstitutional. In other words, they struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions . This will affect college-bound students of color in a number of ways, including lowering their chances of acceptance and reducing the amount of direct outreach they’ll receive from colleges. Another change to consider is the ways in which students should tackle their diversity essays.

Although colleges can no longer directly factor race into admissions, students aren’t prohibited from discussing their racial backgrounds in supplemental application essays. If your racial background is important to you, seriously consider writing about it in your diversity essays. If you don’t, admissions officers are extremely limited in their ability to consider your race when making an admission decision.

As in the essays listed below, discussing your race is an excellent tool for showing admissions officers the person behind the grades and test scores. Beyond that, it provides admissions officers with an opportunity to put themselves in your shoes—showing them how your background has presented challenges to overcome, helped build important life skills, and taught you valuable lessons.

Diversity Essay Examples

I was thirsty. In my wallet was a lone $10 bill, ultimately useless at my school’s vending machine. Tasked with scrounging together the $1 cost of a water bottle, I fished out and arranged the spare change that normally hid in the bottom of my backpack in neat piles of nickels and dimes on my desk. I swept them into a spare Ziploc and began to leave when a classmate snatched the bag and held it above my head.

“Want your money back, Jew?” she chanted, waving the coins around. I had forgotten the Star-of-David around my neck, but quickly realized she must have seen it and connected it to the stacks of coins. I am no stranger to experiencing and confronting antisemitism, but I had never been targeted in my school before. I grabbed my bag and sternly told her to leave. Although she sauntered away, the impact remained.

This incident serves as an example of the adversity I have and will continue to face from those who only see me as a stereotype. Ironically, however, these experiences of discrimination have only increased my pride as a member of the Jewish Community. Continuing to wear the Star-of-David connects me to my history and my family. I find meaning and direction in my community’s values, such as pride, education, and giving—and I am eager to transfer these values to my new community: the Duke community.

What the Essay Did Well

Writing about discrimination can be difficult, but if you are comfortable doing it, it can make for a powerful story. Although this essay is short and focused on one small interaction, it represents a much larger struggle for this student, and for that reason it makes the essay very impactful.

The author takes her time at the beginning of the essay to build the scene for the audience, which allows us to feel like we are there with her, making the hateful comments even more jarring later on. If she had just told us her classmate teased her with harmful stereotypes, we wouldn’t feel the same sense of anger as we do knowing that she was just trying to get a drink and ended up being harassed.

This essay does another important thing—it includes self-reflection on the experience and on the student’s identity. Without elaborating on the emotional impact of a situation, an essay about discrimination would make admission officers feel bad for the student, but they wouldn’t be compelled to admit the student. By describing how experiences like these drive her and make her more determined to embody positive values, this student reveals her character to the readers.

What Could Be Improved

While including emotional reflection in the latter half of the essay is important, the actual sentences could be tightened up a bit to leave a stronger impression. The student does a nice job of showing us her experience with antisemitism, but she just tells us about the impact it has on her. If she instead showed us what the impact looked like, the essay would be even better.

For example, rather than telling us “Continuing to wear the Star-of-David connects me to my history and my family,” she could have shown that connection: “My Star-of-David necklace thumps against my heart with every step I take, reminding me of my great-grandparents who had to hide their stars, my grandma’s spindly fingers lighting the menorah each Hanukkah, and my uncle’s homemade challah bread.” This new sentence reveals so much more than the existing sentence about the student and the deep connection she feels with her family and religion.

Life before was good: verdant forests, sumptuous curries, and a devoted family.

Then, my family abandoned our comfortable life in Bangladesh for a chance at the American dream in Los Angeles. Within our first year, my father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He lost his battle three weeks before my sixth birthday. Facing a new country without the steady presence of my father, we were vulnerable—prisoners of hardship in the land of the free.

We resettled in the Bronx, in my uncle’s renovated basement. It was meant to be our refuge, but I felt more displaced than ever. Gone were the high-rise condos of West L.A.; instead, government projects towered over the neighborhood. Pedestrians no longer smiled and greeted me; the atmosphere was hostile, even toxic. Schoolkids were quick to pick on those they saw as weak or foreign, hurling harsh words I’d never heard before.

Meanwhile, my family began integrating into the local Bangladeshi community. I struggled to understand those who shared my heritage. Bangladeshi mothers stayed home while fathers drove cabs and sold fruit by the roadside—painful societal positions. Riding on crosstown buses or walking home from school, I began to internalize these disparities.

During my fleeting encounters with affluent Upper East Siders, I saw kids my age with nannies, parents who wore suits to work, and luxurious apartments with spectacular views. Most took cabs to their destinations: cabs that Bangladeshis drove. I watched the mundane moments of their lives with longing, aching to plant myself in their shoes. Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day.

As I grappled with my relationship with the Bangladeshi community, I turned my attention to helping my Bronx community by pursuing an internship with Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda. I handled desk work and took calls, spending the bulk of my time actively listening to the hardships constituents faced—everything from a veteran stripped of his benefits to a grandmother unable to support her bedridden grandchild.

I’d never exposed myself to stories like these, and now I was the first to hear them. As an intern, I could only assist in what felt like the small ways—pointing out local job offerings, printing information on free ESL classes, reaching out to non-profits. But to a community facing an onslaught of intense struggles, I realized that something as small as these actions could have vast impacts.

Seeing the immediate consequences of my actions inspired me. Throughout that summer, I internalized my community’s daily challenges in a new light. I began to see the prevalent underemployment and cramped living quarters less as sources of shame. Instead, I saw them as realities that had to be acknowledged, but that could ultimately be remedied.

I also realized the benefits of the Bangladeshi culture I had been so ashamed of. My Bangla language skills were an asset to the office, and my understanding of Bangladeshi etiquette allowed for smooth communication between office staff and the office’s constituents. As I helped my neighbors navigate city services, I saw my heritage with pride—a perspective I never expected to have.

I can now appreciate the value of my unique culture and background, and the value of living with less. This perspective offers room for progress, community integration, and a future worth fighting for. My time with Assemblyman Sepulveda’s office taught me that I can be an agent of change who can enable this progression. Far from being ashamed of my community, I want to someday return to local politics in the Bronx to continue helping others access the American Dream. I hope to help my community appreciate the opportunity to make progress together. By embracing reality, I learned to live it. Along the way, I discovered one thing: life is good, but we can make it better.

This student’s passion for social justice and civic duty shines through in this essay because of how honest it is. Sharing their personal experience with immigrating, moving around, being an outsider, and finding a community allows us to see the hardships this student has faced and builds empathy towards their situation.

However, what really makes it strong is that the student goes beyond describing the difficulties they faced and explains the mental impact it had on them as a child: “Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day.” The rejection of their culture presented at the beginning of the essay creates a nice juxtaposition with the student’s view in the latter half of the essay, and helps demonstrate how they have matured.

They then use their experience interning as a way to delve into a change in their thought process about their culture. This experience also serves as a way to show how their passion for social justice began. Using this experience as a mechanism to explore their thoughts and feelings is an excellent example of how items that are included elsewhere on your application should be incorporated into your essay.

This essay prioritizes emotions and personal views over specific anecdotes. Although there are details and certain moments incorporated throughout to emphasize the author’s points, the main focus remains on the student and how they grapple with their culture and identity.

One area for improvement is the conclusion. Although the forward-looking approach is a nice way to end an essay focused on social justice, it would be nice to include more details and imagery in the conclusion. How does the student want to help their community? What government position do they see themselves holding one day?

A more impactful ending might describe the student walking into their office at the New York City Housing Authority in 15 years. This future student might be looking at the plans to build a new development in the Bronx just blocks away from where they grew up that would provide quality housing to people in their Bangladeshi community. They would smile while thinking about how far they have come from that young kid who used to be ashamed of their culture.

Superhero cinema is an oligopoly consisting of two prominent, towering brands: Marvel and DC. I’m a religious supporter of Marvel, but last year, I discovered that my friend, Tom, was a DC fan. After a vociferous 20-minute quarrel about which was better, we decided to allocate one day to have a professional debate, using carefully assembled and coherent arguments.

One week later, we both brought pages of notes and evidence cards (I also had my Iron-Man bobblehead for moral support). Our impartial moderator—a Disney fan—sat in the middle with a stopwatch, open-policy style. I began the debate by discussing how Marvel accentuated the humanity of the storyline—such as in Tony Stark’s transformation from an egotistical billionaire to a compassionate father—which drew in a broader audience, because more people resonated with certain aspects of the characters. Tom rebutted this by capitalizing on how Deadpool was a duplicate of Deathstroke, how Vision copied Red Tornado, and how DC sold more comics than Marvel.

40 minutes later, we reached an impasse. We were out of cards, and we both made excellent points, so our moderator was unable to declare a winner. Difficult conversations aren’t necessarily always the ones that make political headlines. Instead, a difficult discussion involves any topic with which people share an emotional connection.

Over the years, I became so emotionally invested in Marvel that my mind erected an impenetrable shield, blocking out all other possibilities. Even today, we haven’t decided which franchise was better, but I realized that I was undermining DC for no reason other than my own ignorance.

The inevitability of diversity suggests that it is our responsibility to understand the other person and what they believe in. We may not always experience a change in opinion, but we can grant ourselves the opportunity to expand our global perspective. I strive to continue this adventure to increase my awareness as a superhero aficionado, activist, and student, by engaging in conversations that require me to think beyond what I believe and to view the world from others’ perspectives.

And yes, Tom is still my friend.

Diversity doesn’t always have to be about culture or heritage; diversity exists all around us, even in our comic book preferences. The cleverness of this essay lies in the way the student flipped the traditional diversity prompt on its head and instead discussed his diverse perspective on a topic he is passionate about. If you don’t have a cultural connection you are compelled to write about, this is a nifty approach to a diversity prompt—if it’s handled appropriately.

While this student has a non-traditional topic, he still presents it in a way that pays respect to the key aspects of a diversity essay: depicting his perspective and recognizing the importance of diverse views. Just as someone who is writing about a culture that is possibly unfamiliar to the reader, the student describes what makes Marvel and DC unique and important to him and his friend, respectively. He also expands on how a lack of diversity in superhero consumption led to his feeling of ignorance, and how it now makes him appreciate the need for diversity in all aspects of his life.

This student is unapologetically himself in this essay, which is ultimately why this unorthodox topic is able to work. He committed to his passion for Marvel by sharing analytical takes on characters and demonstrating how the franchise was so important to his identity that it momentarily threatened a friendship. The inclusion of humor through his personal voice—e.g., referring to the argument as a professional debate and telling us that the friendship lived on—contributes to the essay feeling deeply personal.

Choosing an unconventional topic for a diversity essay requires extra care and attention to ensure that you are still addressing the core of the prompt. That being said, if you accomplish it successfully, it makes for an incredibly memorable essay that could easily set you apart!

While this is a great essay as is, the idea of diversity could have been addressed a little bit earlier in the piece to make it absolutely clear the student is writing about his diverse perspective. He positions Marvel and DC as two behemoths in the superhero movie industry, but in the event that his reader is unfamiliar with these two brands, there is little context about the cultural impact each has on its fans.

To this student, Marvel is more than just a movie franchise; it’s a crucial part of his identity, just as someone’s race or religion might be. In order for the reader to fully understand the weight of his perspective, there should be further elaboration—towards the beginning—on how important Marvel is to this student.

Leadership was thrust upon me at a young age. When I was six years old, my abusive father abandoned my family, leaving me to step up as the “man” of the house. From having to watch over my little sister to cooking dinner three nights a week, I never lived an ideal suburban life. I didn’t enjoy the luxuries of joining after-school activities, getting driven to school or friends’ houses, or taking weekend trips to the movies or bowling alley. Instead, I spent my childhood navigating legal hurdles, shouldering family responsibilities, and begrudgingly attending court-mandated therapy sessions.

At the same time, I tried to get decent grades and maintain my Colombian roots and Spanish fluency enough to at least partially communicate with my grandparents, both of whom speak little English. Although my childhood had its bright and joyful moments, much of it was weighty and would have been exhausting for any child to bear. In short, I grew up fast. However, the responsibilities I took on at home prepared me to be a leader and to work diligently, setting me up to use these skills later in life.

I didn’t have much time to explore my interests until high school, where I developed my knack for government and for serving others. Being cast in a lead role in my school’s fall production as a freshman was the first thing to give me the confidence I needed to pursue other activities: namely, student government. Shortly after being cast, I was elected Freshman Vice-President, a role that put me in charge of promoting events, delegating daily office tasks, collaborating with the administration on new school initiatives, and planning trips and fundraisers.

While my new position demanded a significant amount of responsibility, my childhood of helping my mom manage our household prepared me to be successful in the role. When I saw the happy faces of my classmates after a big event, I felt proud to know that I had made even a small difference to them. Seeing projects through to a successful outcome was thrilling. I enjoyed my time and responsibilities so much that I served all four years of high school, going on to become Executive Vice-President.

As I found success in high school, my mother and grandparents began speaking more about the life they faced prior to emigrating from Colombia. To better connect with them, I took a series of Spanish language classes to regain my fluency. After a practice run through my presentation on Bendíceme, Ultima ( Bless me, Ultima ) by Rudolofo Anaya, with my grandmother, she squeezed my hand and told me the story of how my family was forced from their home in order to live free of religious persecution. Though my grandparents have often expressed how much better their lives and their children’s lives have been in America, I have often struggled with my identity. I felt that much of it was erased with my loss of our native language.

In elementary school, I learned English best because in class I was surrounded by it. Spanish was more difficult to grasp without a formal education, and my family urged me to become fluent in English so I could be of better help to them in places as disparate as government agencies and grocery stores. When I was old enough to recognize the large part of my identity still rooted in being Colombian, it was challenging to connect these two sides of who I was.

Over time I have been able to reconcile the two in the context of my aspirations. I found purpose and fulfillment through student council, and I knew that I could help other families like my own if I worked in local government. By working through city offices that address housing, education, and support for survivors of childhood abuse, I could give others the same liberties and opportunities my family has enjoyed in this country. Doing so would also help me honor my roots as a first-generation American.

I have been a leader my entire life. Both at Harvard and after graduation, I want to continue that trend. I hope to volunteer with organizations that share my goals. I want to advise policy-making politicians on ways to make children and new immigrants safer and more secure. When my family was at their worst, my community gave back. I hope to give that gift to future generations. A career in local, city-based public service is not a rashly made decision; it is a reflection of where I’ve already been in life, and where I want to be in the future.

Although this essay begins on a somber note, it goes on to show this student’s determination and the joy he found. Importantly, it also ends with a positive, forward-looking perspective. This is a great example of how including your hardship can bolster an essay as long as it is not the essay’s main focus.

Explaining the challenges this student faced from a young age—becoming the man of the house, dealing with legal matters, maintaining good grades, etc.—builds sympathy for his situation. However, the first paragraph is even more impactful because he explains the emotional toll these actions had on him. We understand how he lost the innocence of his childhood and how he struggled to remain connected to his Colombian heritage with all his other responsibilities. Including these details truly allows the reader to see this student’s struggle, making us all the more joyful when he comes out stronger in the end.

Pivoting to discuss positive experiences with student government and Spanish classes for the rest of the essay demonstrates that this student has a positive approach to life and is willing to push through challenges. The tone of the essay shifts from heavy to uplifting. He explains the joy he got out of helping his classmates and connecting with his grandparents, once again providing emotional reflection to make the reader care more.

Overall, this essay does a nice job of demonstrating how this student approaches challenges and negative experiences. Admitting that the responsibilities of his childhood had a silver lining shows his maturity and how he will be able to succeed in government one day. The essay strikes a healthy balance between challenge and hope, leaving us with a positive view of a student with such emotional maturity.

Although the content of this essay is very strong, it struggles with redundancy and disorganized information. He mentions his passion for government at the beginning of the student government paragraph, then again addresses government in the paragraph focused on his Colombian heritage, and concludes by talking about how he wants to get into government once more. Similarly, in the first paragraph, he discusses the struggle of maintaining his Colombian identity and then fully delves into that topic in the third paragraph.

The repetition of ideas and lack of a streamlined organization of this student’s thoughts diminishes some of the emotional impact of the story. The reader is left trying to piece together a swirling mass of information on their own, rather than having a focused, sequential order to follow.

This could be fixed if the student rearranged details to make each paragraph focused on a singular idea. For example, the first paragraph could be about his childhood. The second could be about how student government sparked his interest in government and what he hopes to do one day. The third could be about how he reconnected with his Colombian roots through his Spanish classes, after years of struggling with his identity. And the final paragraph could tie everything together by explaining how everything led to him wanting to pursue a future serving others, particularly immigrants like his family.

Alternatively, the essay could follow a sequential order that would start with his childhood, then explain his struggle with his identity, then show how student government and Spanish classes helped him find himself, and finally, conclude with what he hopes to accomplish by pursuing government.

I never understood the power of community until I left home to join seven strangers in the Ecuadorian rainforest. Although we flew in from distant corners of the U.S., we shared a common purpose: immersing ourselves in our passion for protecting the natural world.

Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns. My classmates debated the feasibility of Trump’s wall, not the deteriorating state of our planet. Contrastingly, these seven strangers delighted in bird-watching, brightened at the mention of medicinal tree sap, and understood why I once ran across a four-lane highway to retrieve discarded beer cans.

Their histories barely resembled mine, yet our values aligned intimately. We did not hesitate to joke about bullet ants, gush about the versatility of tree bark, or discuss the destructive consequences of materialism. Together, we let our inner tree-huggers run free.

In the short life of our little community, we did what we thought was impossible. By feeding on each other’s infectious tenacity, we cultivated an atmosphere that deepened our commitment to our values and empowered us to speak out on behalf of the environment. After a week of stimulating conversations and introspective revelations about engaging people from our hometowns in environmental advocacy, we developed a shared determination to devote our lives to this cause.

As we shared a goodbye hug, my new friend whispered, “The world needs saving. Someone’s gotta do it.” For the first time, I believed that that someone could be me.

This student is expressing their diversity through their involvement in a particular community—another nice approach if you don’t want to write about culture or ethnicity. We all have unique things that we geek out over. This student expresses the joy that they derived from finding a community where they could express their love for the environment. Passion is fundamental to university life and generally finds its way into any successful application.

The essay finds strength in the fact that readers feel for the student. We get a little bit of backstory about where they come from and how they felt silenced— “Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns” —so it’s easy to feel joy for them when they get set free and finally find their community.

This student displays clear values: community, ecoconsciousness, dedication, and compassion. An admissions officer who reads a diversity essay is looking for students with strong values who will enrich the university community with their unique perspective—that sounds just like this student!

One area of weakness in this essay is the introduction. The opening line— “I never understood the power of community until I left home to join seven strangers in the Ecuadorian rainforest” —is a bit clichéd. Introductions should be captivating and build excitement and suspense for what is to come. Simply telling the reader about how your experience made you understand the power of community reveals the main takeaway of your essay without the reader needing to go any further.

Instead of starting this essay with a summary of what the essay is about, the student should have made their hook part of the story. Whether that looks like them being exasperated with comments their classmates made about politics, or them looking around apprehensively at the seven strangers in their program as they all boarded their flight, the student should start off in the action.

India holds a permanent place in my heart and ears. Whenever I returned on a trip or vacation, I would show my grandmother how to play Monopoly and she would let me tie her sari. I would teach my grandfather English idioms—which he would repeat to random people and fishmongers on the streets—and he would teach me Telugu phrases.

It was a curious exchange of worlds that I am reminded of every time I listen to Indian music. It was these tunes that helped me reconnect with my heritage and ground my meandering identity. Indian music, unlike the stereotype I’d long been imbued with, was not just a one-and-done Bollywood dance number! Each region and language was like an island with its own unique sonic identity. I’m grateful for my discovery of Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil tunes, for these discoveries have opened me up to the incredible smorgasbord of diversity, depth, and complexity within the subcontinent I was born in.

Here’s an entirely-different sonic identity for you: Texan slang. “Couldya pass the Mango seltzer, please, hon?” asked my Houstonian neighbor, Rae Ann—her syllables melding together like the sticky cake batter we were making.

Rae Ann and her twang were real curiosities to me. Once, she invited my family to a traditional Texan barbecue with the rest of our neighbors. As Hindus, we didn’t eat beef, so we showed up with chicken kebabs, instead. Rather than looking at us bizarrely, she gladly accepted the dish, lining it up beside grilled loins and hamburger patties.

Her gesture was a small but very well-accepted one and I quickly became convinced she was the human manifestation of “Southern hospitality”—something reflected in each of her viscous, honey-dripping phrases. “Watch out for the skeeters!” was an excellent example. It was always funny at first, but conveyed a simple message: We’ve got each other’s backs and together, we can overcome the blood-sucking mosquitoes of the Houstonian summer! I began to see how her words built bridges, not boundaries.

I believe that sounds—whether it’s music or accents—can make a difference in the ways we perceive and accept individuals from other backgrounds. But sound is about listening too. In Rice’s residential college, I would be the type of person to strike up a conversation with an international student and ask for one of their Airpods (you’d be surprised how many different genres and languages of music I’ve picked up in this way!).

As both an international student and Houstonian at heart, I hope to bridge the gap between Rice’s domestic and international populations. Whether it’s organizing cultural events or simply taking the time to get to know a student whose first language isn’t English, I look forward to listening to the stories that only a fellow wanderer can tell.

This essay does an excellent job of addressing two aspects of this student’s identity. Looking at diversity through sound is a very creative way to descriptively depict their Indian and Texan cultures. Essays are always more successful when they stimulate the senses, so framing the entire response around sound automatically opens the door for vivid imagery.

The quotes from this student’s quirky neighbor bring a sense of realism to the essay. We can feel ourselves at the barbecue and hear her thick Texan accent coming through. The way people communicate is a huge part of their culture and identity, so the way that this student perfectly captures the essence of their Texan identity with accented phrases is skillfully done.

This essay does such a great job of making the sounds of Texas jump off the page, so it is a bit disappointing that it wasn’t able to accomplish the same for India. The student describes the different Indian languages and music styles, but doesn’t bring them to life with quotes or onomatopoeia in the manner that they did for the sounds of Texas.

They could have described the buzz of the sitar or the lyrical pattern of the Telugu phrases their grandfather taught them. Telling us about the diversity of sounds in Indian music is fine, but if the reader can’t appreciate what those sounds resemble, it makes it harder to understand the Indian half of the author’s identity. Especially since this student emulated the sounds and essence of Texas so well, it’s important that India is given the same treatment so we can fully appreciate both sides of this essay.

More Supplemental Essay Tips

How to Write a Stellar “Why This College?” Essay + Examples

How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity College Essay

Do you want feedback on your diversity essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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Asian Community’s Cultural Values and Attitudes Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Asian Literature

Every community in the world has a culture whose values govern the community’s behaviour in response to different situations. Depending on the culture of a specific community, despite the several similarities that may exist, the difference in cultures causes different communities to perceive the other communities as different from them. If the differences are not well handled, it may lead to racism or tribalism, which is not good for coexistence, especially now when the world has become one small global village. In this section of the paper, I will seek to understand the cultural values and attitudes of the Asian community and try and compare it with the contemporary U.S. culture.

Asian’s Values

According to Yeh, Carter and Pieterse, “Asian cultural values have been associated with the therapeutic intervention and case conceptualization, academic achievement, career interests, family dynamics, social relations, coping, counsellor cultural sensitivity, help-seeking and problem perception, counseling attitudes, and counselor preferences” (Yeh, Carter and Pieterse 1).

According to Dalton and Ong

The expansion of the right of the individual to behave or misbehave as he pleases has come at the expense of orderly society. In the East, the main objective is to have a well-ordered society so that everybody can have maximum enjoyment of his freedoms. This freedom can only exist in an ordered state and not in a natural state of contention and anarchy. (Dalton and Ong 2)

East Asian communities are described to be orderly; the community is paternalistic, its leadership is mainly hierarchical, and community-oriented. This means that the male gender is dominant in the community, and authority or leadership is inherited from one family or clan, and the problem of one household is the problem of the whole community. These values are a complete contrast to the U. S. community. In the U.S, the society is atomized, rights-based, liberal and individualistic (Dalton and Ong 2). Each person in the U.S. understands what their rights are, and somebody will fight for them till he or she feels they are met. Each person in the U.S. cares for themselves, and nobody cares what is happening to the other person not unless they are invited to help.

These differences have affected the communities politically in that; the Asians have not accepted the competition brought about by democratic governance that is a key political feature in the U.S. The Asian, community due to its cultural values on communalism with limited tolerance on the opposition are not the same as the American who embrace liberal democratic leadership. This has been the main limiting factor to Asia building social networks and accumulating social capital since the condition is not conducive for democratic development.

However, with modernization, there are parts of Asia where the values have been changing. Values like communalism have been affected by self modernization were some Asians have started thinking like individuals, taking care of the individual needs and minding about how they have been governed. Though it is projected to take some time for Asia to be like the U.S., there are projections that Asia will one day accept democratic leadership where what matters is the governance more than the clan or family where leadership seems to be originating from.

Asian Attitudes

Attitude is highly related to the orientation given to a community on specific issues. In Asia, the community orientation on leadership is based on the family. The attitude on respect for parents in both Asia and the U.S. is equal in both communities since the orientation in both communities is that parents are superior and deserve to be respected regardless of their faults. The cultural orientation of authority outside the family is one major orientation area.

In both cultures, authority is meant to be respected, and orders from authority are to be honored. However, Asians have little regard for obeying orders when one is not comfortable with them, for Asians community protection is basic than following wrong instructions.

With the social modernization and movement from rural to urban, that has been so much with the younger generation; the attitude towards authority has been so much affected. The support for democracy is higher in the older generation as compared to the younger in the economic and modernized communities. The family relationships are still stronger in Asia as compared to the U.S. where attitude is based on the individual.

In the Asian orientation of democracy, the average citizen has not understood the advantages and disadvantages of democracy. Through economic development, most Asians have the view of “democracy as an obstacle to growth and stability – even if they endorse democracy in principle” (Dalton and Ong 12). However, this is not uniform in the whole of Asia; Chinese and Vietnamese believe that democracy is the best form of government while Beijing will still criticize democracy. Democracy is highly welcome since every individual has the right to express themselves in the way that deems fit for them. Every individual is free to support the leaders they feel will offer them better leadership regardless of where the person comes from. They look for what fits them individually, not what fit the whole community.

Basically, values and attitude are governed by what one knows and have seen which is greatly controlled by social, culture and environment and are displayed differently in different individuals. Depending on the orientation given to an individual in a given setting, different people from different cultural backgrounds view the world differently even though as discussed earlier, there could be some similarities (Yeh, Carter and Pieterse 1).

Asian art, what it is supposed to represent and my reaction to the art

Art work is used to display the history of a given community. Most of the time, past events are well displayed through art work and there might, or there might not be an explanation besides the art of what it represents but looking at the art, one is expected to learn and come up with an explanation of what the art could be representing. The Asian community is one among many that have very rich art work that has been a great reserve for their culture. It ranges from sculptures, drawings, paintings, pictures, carvings, textiles and decoration. Though they have hidden meanings, the arts are so rich in meaning if only one gets to understand them.

The products of art are either bought as gifts to friends and relatives, homemade for domestic use or displayed in museums for cultural heritage. Asian Art Museum is one of many museums that has a collection of arts. The display of the art work is so catching, and with understanding, one gets to learn a lot about the past of the Asian community. Exploring a few of the artwork and what they will make us understand them more.

A sculpture of an elephant carrying a vase takes us back to when Qing was in power in China where elephants carried vases on his birthday. The vase symbolizes peace and the elephant whose name means sign. The symbol represents that where there is peace, there are signs (Gach 1). In the wish that somebody’s son follows the footsteps of the father, a carving of a big fish and a small fish in a tidal position would suggest that the son will take the high position of the father and be productive. This is well indicated by the understanding that a fish lays many eggs which would symbolize high fertility in their children.

If somebody on the New Year receives a gift incorporating white cabbage, the interpretation could be the person is being wished to increase in wealth over the coming year since white cabbage evokes wealth in the Chinese culture. If on one’s wedding the person receives a gift of fish swimming in pairs, pair of ducks swimming together, the interpretation is that the couple is wished a happy marriage full of satisfaction (Gach 1). For the newly wedded, some gifts like melon or guard could be meaning many children because of their many seeds.

Considering religious symbols for Buddha, the Lotus symbol has so much meaning. In Buddhism, this flower is not only admired for its beauty, but it symbolizes the enlightenment to the people who have and will meditate on the law. The flower supports the world, Buddha as the flower supports the world above the waters. The symbol of a lion represents regality, strength and power. For Buddha, it was an important symbol since its tradition was that of a royal prince.

According to the View on Buddhism, “in Tibetan Buddhist art, lions are often depicted on the throne the Buddha sits on, but these are Snow Lions” (View on Buddhism 1). The art of drawing endless knots symbolizes that in nature, everything is interrelated and it also symbolizes wisdom of Buddha and the union of compassion and wisdom. Since it has neither beginning nor end, it also symbolizes long life.

Some of the household items used by the Chinese people could have different meanings from just being an item for use. For example, by having a “A gourd-shaped vase decorated with bats is more than just ornamental: it is a promising omen, as the gourd symbolizes fertility by virtue of its numerous seeds, and the imagery of bats implies the sentiment – blessings vast as the sky” (Gach 1). Many Chinese households would have the vase in hope that their wishes for many children and also that of being blessed beyond the sky will come true.

I believe in art is that they should represent history and should contribute to the cultural heritage for the sake of the future generations. The Asians are so rich in what they believe in and what they practice on day to day life. From the look of the arts, one may fail to know what they represent especially if you are not from Asia, but with a good interpreter and thorough study of their culture, you can always relate to them.

Going round the museum is more important especially if one does not came from Asia. Through art, one will get to understand where Asians have come from, their values, beliefs and wishes in life. This makes it easy to live with people from the Asian community having understood them better through their art work. For example, when one visits their homes and find household items that have some decorations on them, with understanding of the meaning, the person will be able to avoid making wrong judgments. If one gets a gift from a friend from the Asian community, even if the gift has no description on it, the person will understand the meaning of the gift if only the person had learnt the different meanings that the art works could be having through arts.

Asian Cultural Show

In the Asian cultural show, culture is well displayed through music, dances, drama, play games, narratives, fashion clothing and jewelry. The show displays a history and the current affairs that surround the Asian Community and gives somebody an opportunity to learn while he or she gets entertained. The Asian show enables one to experience the rich cultural heritage of the Asian community which makes one appreciate and understand the Asian traditions and practices. Since most of the presenters are youths, the show gives them an opportunity to participate in the culture, for them who are abroad, and an opportunity to show up their talents through arts.

According to Asianfair “the festival presents exemplary classical, folk and contemporary Asian art forms featuring local, regional, national and international artists”(1). For the purpose of balancing between the traditional and the professional show, there is need for proper choices to be made when selecting the groups to present. This also helps in ensuring that money is spent well to display the whole culture which will satisfy the viewers.

Each year, the show has a theme in relation to what is affecting the Asian community. For example, cancer epidemic that is facing the whole world, keeping focus on change agents and encouraging people to be the change they want to see and promoting healthy living practices which include food and exercise. HIV/Aids has been another theme that has been in use for quite some time especially in colleges and universities.

To encourage competition and production of the best of arts, the fair comes up with a reward for the best so every group has to make sure they produce the best for the best education of people in attendance. The best performer gets something like a trophy, money, may win a trip to a given place and so on. All these are aimed at encouraging the artists to come up with the best while blending the tradition with the current style. The cultural shows are so rich in displaying the culture of the Asian people.

Though music and dances dominate in the cultural show, they communicate well the traditions and the practices of the Asian communities. Through dances which are a blend of the traditional and the current moves, the role of women and men are displayed and by careful following the songs. One gets to understand more the relationship that exist among the community members.

One of the cultural shows that have drama in them is the Asian American Student Cultural show. They try and create awareness of the life in college as well as warn the students against engaging in issues that may not benefit them. The purpose for the show for most of the time is to help the fresh men to be prepared psychologically for the things they may have to deal with, to help them make decisions beforehand so that their learning may not be interfered by engaging behaviors that may ruin their careers. Through the shows, themes like HIV/Aids are handled to encourage students to be responsible of their sexual life, Cancer the killer disease, to make students aware of the epidemics around them.

Asian Worship

Just like any other parts of the world, Asia is one of the places that have many religions under practice. Among the other religions are Confucianism, Hinduism, Lingayatism, Taoism, Christianity, Gnosticism, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian movement, Buddhism and the list goes on. Looking at Buddhism, its religious practices, their meanings and their place of worship will help us understand the religion better.

Buddhism as a religion is built on two beliefs, rebirth and Karma. They believe that rebirth is based on how the mind lived when the body was alive. The religion believes that when somebody dies, the body and mind are disintegrated but the mind does not cease to live, it gets purified and transforms into the omniscient mind of Buddha. Karma is believed to be the law that governs our actions now which affects the future happiness. It is the “relationship between actions and their effects – virtue causing happiness and non-virtue causing suffering” (Meditate in London 1).

This law is the one that promotes morality among the Buddhist since their actions will determine their future happiness. The happiness is predicted after somebody’s death since it is believed that if the person’s life was full of vices, the person’s mind will experience terrifying visions which will lead to rebirth without choice. Karma dictates who gets rebirth and who does not, good karma will lead to a rebirth as god or human and a bad karma will lead to a rebirth in a ghost, as an animal or as a hell being (Meditate in London 1).

Buddhism focuses on the personal spiritual development. Buddhist religious endeavor is to get an insight into life and live it well practicing doing well for the purpose of securing a good rebirth after one dies. The Buddhist does not worship gods or deities since there is nothing permanent, everything keeps on changing from living to death and to living gain, hence making a circle. Since the religion is not fixed on believing in anything apart from morality, meditation and wisdom to do the right thing and worship can be done from either home or the temple.

Before a worship service begins in the temple, a bell is rung in order to gather the members living around the temple. During a worship service, a Buddhist’s attitude should be based on their sufferings and rejoicing in the knowledge that Buddha is able to deliver them from the sufferings. Worship can be done either before an altar or in any other place as long as the act accompanies the heart which is a sign of respect and adoration for Buddha.

In the worship service, chanting is done during the devotional services in the morning or in the evening. Thanks giving and praise for Buddha’s virtues are made during devotion either in a normal service or during the memorial service for the deceased. Chanting is done by reading the sutra which enables the rest of the people to hear the sutra and the person reading also gets to hear the sutra as he or she reads out aloud.

Holding of the two hands during worship is a way to symbolize harmony which is a sign of highest courtesy and respect (Terakoya 1). The Buddhist during worship shuffles the 108 beads stringed together which symbolizes the 108 cravings of man. This are done in reminding Buddha in efforts to seek deliverance from the many craving and through that the Buddhist believe the deliverance will help them to be wise in the decisions they make in life.

During devotion, incense broken into short lengths are burnt in the brazier as a way of purifying the air, this causes purity offered to Buddha since the worship place should not be desecrated in any manner. The procedure should be once the incense is placed the burn, hold two hands, say chant then bow.

When the worship service is done at home, the head of the family may lead but it is open to anybody else who is willing to lead the service. The leader should be dressed in the worship attire and should be well familiar with the chanting. During Chanting, the bell is truck twice at the beginning, once at the middle and thrice at the end of the chant to designate breaks and pauses during devotion and also to set the tone of the voice (Terakoya 1).

Buddhists are encouraged to recite the daily creed every day in the morning and in the evening. For memorization purposes, it is meant to be posted where one can view it more easily at any time of the day and to be recited either by an individual or in gathering. This is to facilitate constant personal or group devotion to Buddha without necessarily waiting for the time of worship to go to the temple or at home where the Alter is set. This constant recitations and devotion is believed to keep a worshiper I a closer relationship with Buddha who offers guidance and such a person is considered not prone to making errors in actions which affects his or her rebirth.

Asia as a continent has gone through tough times. One of them is during the colonial times which have never been a sweet time in any given country. India being part of Asia also had its time of colonization. It was out of this that the movie Passage to India has been written and acted to Passage to India show what the Indians went through during the time. India was colonized by the British people; the movie is coming at a time when the colonial period was coming to an end.

The movie features friend from the British and the Indian sides whose friendship is breaking because of their differences in race and attitude to each other. The friendship is between an old English woman who met an Indian widow one evening when they met in a mosque and they discovered they had things in common. The friendship grows to the point of the woman getting confident of Aziz being a different Indian apart from the many racist stories she had gotten from the other English people about the Indian people. In her craving to know more about India, she requests Aziz her and the young woman she had come with from England for walks.

The friendship grows to the level of doing wild excursion together. In the company of an old woman, a young lady both British and Aziz an Indian they go for an outing to explore the caves. The exploration was to give the women a feel of the Indian in the rural villages apart from the ones they had interacted with in the cities. These explorations are brought to a stop by the wrangles between the Indians and the colonials after the young lady was harmed and Aziz was jailed for attempted rape.

The colonial team was for the idea that Aziz was responsible for the predicaments that landed on the young lady, this was out of the accusation by the English woman that he followed him to the cave and attempted to rape her, but according to the old woman, Aziz was a volunteer who had offered to take them around and help them through getting a guide in India. Aziz gets so much traumatized by the incident, the degradation of his respect in the community and this affects his further relationship with the colonial team. He develops mistrust for all the British apart from the old woman who stood with him as a witness.

Due to the firm stand of the old woman that Aziz was innocence leads her to problems with the rest of the British people, she is ordered to go back to England where she dies on her way of heart attack.

In the court, the young lady sets Aziz free by telling everybody in the court that Aziz was innocent, the accusation was false. This was the greatest moment of embarrassment to the Colonials team but much victory to the Indians. This embarrassment causes the young lady to leave India and breaks her engagement.

The film portrays the English mismanagement of India through racist attitude that the colonial people had on the Indians. During this time, the native Indian was oppressed and the only way out was to team up through the Indian Independence Movement. The only people who believed that Aziz was innocent were Mrs. Moore and Fielding who offered to help him out, the rest of the colonial administration including the head of police believes that the Indian character is inhibited by criminal acts and that they are capable of doing anything. Every bad thing and mistakes done in the streets is assumed that Indians are involved. The word of a white person was more trustworthy than that of an Indian (Topham 1).

Due to the conditions that the Indians had been subjected to, this leads to the Indians concern of each other and they thought as a community. Their support for one another was so strong to overcome the powerlessness and alienation that the colonial administration had instilled in them. This was a great point of gaining strength to carryon despite the hard times they faced in every day of the colonial error.

To the colonial administration, Indians were a bunch of criminals and to Indians the British were rude and heartless. These attitudes were the results of why friendship could not be sustained between people from both sides and anytime it happened, condition paralyzed the friendship.

With this many limitations the question is whether the Indians and the English people could ever make friends and remains strong friends. It affects the easy they relate to each other even in times of economic developments. The Indians take of anything from the west which includes civilization as faulty and a way to drain resources from the community for the benefits of a few people in the community. Cultural mistrust is evident even in this day where Indians would rather listen to any other people but not the British.

Asian Cuisines

Asians are among the communities that are known for eating delicious and highly flavored foods. Their foods are spiced up and every meal is comprised of more than one type of food. Doe to the communal type of the community the Asians live-in, their foods are made several women from different households and there after divided to be eaten by every members of the community. This trait of communal cooking to women is passed from one generation to the other. Older women are given younger women and girls to train how to cook given foods so that they too will be able to participate in the community responsibility of feeding them.

Asian cuisines are so many and they are all related with the religion in which they originate from. Depending on the region, all of them are different and they taste differently. Asians cuisines are the most tried kind of food in the whole world. With modernization and people getting busy, the Asian cuisines are found in restaurants and anybody can access them in any place they are as long as there is a restaurant offering cuisines in their menu.

I visited a Chinese restaurant and ordered Cantonese cuisine. Having not taken it before, I was anxious to see how it looks like, taste what it feels like and learn how it is made. Cantonese cuisine being a general word, I ordered for steamed Siu mei. The cuisine was so appetizing especially looking at it from the wrappings. After taking the food the greatest question was the ingredients involved, and how it was made for somebody who would like to do it at home.

The ingredients are purchased and prepared the same day and cooked just before serving. Depending on what is being made and the time it will take to prepare and cook, it is advisable that timing be done well to facilitate people eating at the right time. Also the chef is advised make use of things like refrigerator to ensure that no time is wasted since the food is mostly taken by very busy people.

Ingredients for steamed Siu mei

From the Chinese chicken Recipes for Busy People:

• Wonton wrappings, 1 pack (Get the yellow wonton wrappings instead of the white ones. The white wrappings are ok, they are just thicker);
• Ground pork, ½ pound;
• Shrimp, about 1/2 pound;
• Dried shiitake mushrooms, 3 (or 5 or 6 fresh shiitake mushrooms);
• Egg white, 1;
• Oyster sauce, 1 tsp;
• Soy sauce, 1 tsp;
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 Tbsp;
• Garlic, 1 clove;
• Sesame oil, 1 tsp;
• Chicken powder, 1 tsp;
• Sugar, 1/2 tsp;
• White pepper, a dash.
• Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes or until they are softened. Or you can pre-soak them and leave them in the refrigerator overnight. Or you can use fresh shiitake mushrooms instead. Dried shiitake mushrooms have strong mushroom taste as compared to fresh ones. Finely chop garlic, add it to the mixing bowl.
• Add ground port into the mixing bowl. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, chicken powder, sesame oil, sugar and a dash of white pepper. Mix it well. Put it aside, you will embark on it latter.
• Peel and clean shrimp. Cut it into small pieces. You can then finely chop it if you prefer. It looks like a chunky paste. Add the shrimp to the mixing bowl.
• Break an egg, and just add the egg white to the mixing bowl. Mix everything well.
• Prepare a small bowl of water, put it aside.
• Prepare the steamer. Add enough water in the steamer. Start boiling the water.
• Prepare a plate that can fit into the steamer. Or you can use two pieces of aluminum foil and foil it like a container that will fit. Spray oil on the plate/foil to prevent the siu mei from sticking.
• While you wait for the steamer to get ready, you can start wrapping the siu mei. Get a piece of wonton wrapping; put it on your left hand. Then put one tablespoon of filing and put it in the middle of the wrapping. Leave a little space on the edge. Use your finger to dip a little bit of water on the edge of the wrapping. Then fold the edge of the wrapping up like a cup cake.
• Put each siu mei on the plate. For the best result, leave space between siu mei to avoid them sticking together.
• Put siu mei in the steamer. Steam with a lid on for 18 minutes on high heat. Serve hot. You can serve it with a little bit soy sauce or chili sauce on the side. This can also be served with rice.

This is just but one kind of Asian Cuisine that one can try in any of the Chinese restaurant.

Through this review, it has been shown that the Asian community is different and similar is many aspects from the society in the U.S. The Asian artwork is rich and offers useful lesson on life. Family life is highly esteemed in the community and religion is used to ensure that the members of the society coexist peacefully. Though there are many religions in Asia, all of them support the view that people should love each other and coexist peacefully. The Asian food is quite diverse. Globalization has made the world closer and this has been reflected in the Asian community. For instance, there is an element of the members of the Asian community adopting democracy among other elements which are associated with the western communities.

Works Cited

Asianfair. “19 th Asian Trade, Food Fair & Cultural Show; 12” Asian Fair, 2011. Web.

Dalton, Russell and Ong, Nhu. “Authority Orientations and Democratic.” Japanese Journal of Political Science 6(2) 1-21.

Gach, Gary. “ Hidden Meanings Symbols in Chinese Art. ” Asian Art Museum, 2006. Web.

Meditate in London. “Buddhist beliefs.” Meditate in London, 2011. Web.

Terakoya. “Worship Services.” Terakoya, n.d. Web.

Topham, James. “ A Passage to India’ Review. ” About.com, 2011. Web.

View on Buddhism. “ A View on Buddhism. ” General Buddhist Symbols, 2011. Web.

Yeh, Christine., Carter, Robert and Pieterse, Alex. “Cultural Values and Racial Identity Attitudes among Asian American Students: An Exploratory Investigation.” Education Resource Information Center, 2004. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2021, February 23). Asian Community's Cultural Values and Attitudes. https://ivypanda.com/essays/asian-communitys-cultural-values-and-attitudes/

"Asian Community's Cultural Values and Attitudes." IvyPanda , 23 Feb. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/asian-communitys-cultural-values-and-attitudes/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Asian Community's Cultural Values and Attitudes'. 23 February.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Asian Community's Cultural Values and Attitudes." February 23, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/asian-communitys-cultural-values-and-attitudes/.

1. IvyPanda . "Asian Community's Cultural Values and Attitudes." February 23, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/asian-communitys-cultural-values-and-attitudes/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Asian Community's Cultural Values and Attitudes." February 23, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/asian-communitys-cultural-values-and-attitudes/.

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AP®︎/College Art History

Course: ap®︎/college art history   >   unit 1.

• Common questions about dates

A brief history of the cultures of Asia

• A brief history of Western culture
• What maps tell us

Geographical divisions

Central and North Asia , comprising territories bordered by the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, and Afghanistan in the south (which is at times considered part of the Central Asian region).

West Asia , comprising Iraq (in ancient times, Mesopotamia), Iran (whose territory previously encompassed Persia), Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean (today’s Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Gaza Strip, and West Bank), the Arabian Peninsula (comprising Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates), and Anatolia and the Caucasus (today’s Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia).

East Asia , spanning Mongolia, mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and North and South Korea.

South and Southeast Asia , consisting of the countries that are geographically north of Australia, south of China and Japan, and west of Papua New Guinea. These countries are Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, East Timor, Laos, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Burma, and Thailand. South Asia, also known as the Indian subcontinent, comprises the sub-Himalayan countries of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Bhutan, and the Maldives.

Cultural divisions

Buddhism , which developed in India in reaction to the established religion, Hinduism, and subsequently spread to other countries in South, Southeast, and East Asia. From the 6th century B.C.E. to the present day, Buddhism shaped various aspects central to these Asian cultures, from principles of government to visual and material culture. See the Smarthistory resource on Hinduism + Buddhism .

Islam , founded by Muhammad in the early 7th century C.E. at Mecca (in modern-day Saudi Arabia), spread over the centuries in Central and Western Asia all the way to the Pacific nation of Indonesia, and reached non-Asian territories in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. One can trace the history of the Islamic world and its deep imprint on many Asian cultures and on pan-regional cultural phenomena within Asia and beyond. See the Smarthistory resource, Introduction to Islam .

The Silk Road , named as such only in the 19th century, is a network of trade routes harkening back to the 2nd century B.C.E., which connected, over the centuries, territories from Eastern China to Southern Europe and North Africa. Although occasioned by trade, especially in silk, these pan-Asian routes had a significant influence on local cultures and enabled cross-cultural encounters.

• keep these divisions in mind and notice changes and reconfigurations;
• think about parallel trajectories (similarly momentous developments occurring independently in different parts of the world) and points of convergence (cross-cultural encounters and developments);
• and remember that the “gray areas” of the past are typically the most complicated, but they also tend to provide some of the richest and most rewarding histories.

Prehistoric (before c. 2500 B.C.E.)

Ancient – conquests, new empires, and new religions (c. 2500 b.c.e. to 650 c.e.), middle ages – realms and societies (c. 650 c.e. to 1500 c.e.), early modern – self-fashioning and transcultural encounters (c. 1500 – c. 1850), modern (after c. 1850), central & north asia, south & southeast asia, contemporary asian cultures in a global context, want to join the conversation.

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What It Means To Be Asian in America

The lived experiences and perspectives of asian americans in their own words.

Asians are the fastest growing racial and ethnic group in the United States. More than 24 million Americans in the U.S. trace their roots to more than 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

The majority of Asian Americans are immigrants, coming to understand what they left behind and building their lives in the United States. At the same time, there is a fast growing, U.S.-born generation of Asian Americans who are navigating their own connections to familial heritage and their own experiences growing up in the U.S.

In a new Pew Research Center analysis based on dozens of focus groups, Asian American participants described the challenges of navigating their own identity in a nation where the label “Asian” brings expectations about their origins, behavior and physical self. Read on to see, in their own words, what it means to be Asian in America.

• Introduction

Table of Contents

This is how i view my identity, this is how others see and treat me, this is what it means to be home in america, about this project, methodological note, acknowledgments.

No single experience defines what it means to be Asian in the United States today. Instead, Asian Americans’ lived experiences are in part shaped by where they were born, how connected they are to their family’s ethnic origins, and how others – both Asians and non-Asians – see and engage with them in their daily lives. Yet despite diverse experiences, backgrounds and origins, shared experiences and common themes emerged when we asked: “What does it mean to be Asian in America?”

In the fall of 2021, Pew Research Center undertook the largest focus group study it had ever conducted – 66 focus groups with 264 total participants – to hear Asian Americans talk about their lived experiences in America. The focus groups were organized into 18 distinct Asian ethnic origin groups, fielded in 18 languages and moderated by members of their own ethnic groups. Because of the pandemic, the focus groups were conducted virtually, allowing us to recruit participants from all parts of the United States. This approach allowed us to hear a diverse set of voices – especially from less populous Asian ethnic groups whose views, attitudes and opinions are seldom presented in traditional polling. The approach also allowed us to explore the reasons behind people’s opinions and choices about what it means to belong in America, beyond the preset response options of a traditional survey.

The terms “Asian,” “Asians living in the United States” and “Asian American” are used interchangeably throughout this essay to refer to U.S. adults who self-identify as Asian, either alone or in combination with other races or Hispanic identity.

“The United States” and “the U.S.” are used interchangeably with “America” for variations in the writing.

Multiracial participants are those who indicate they are of two or more racial backgrounds (one of which is Asian). Multiethnic participants are those who indicate they are of two or more ethnicities, including those identified as Asian with Hispanic background.

U.S. born refers to people born in the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or other U.S. territories.

Immigrant refers to people who were not U.S. citizens at birth – in other words, those born outside the U.S., Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories to parents who were not U.S. citizens. The terms “immigrant,” “first generation” and “foreign born” are used interchangeably in this report.  

Second generation refers to people born in the 50 states or the District of Columbia with at least one first-generation, or immigrant, parent.

The pan-ethnic term “Asian American” describes the population of about 22 million people living in the United States who trace their roots to more than 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The term was popularized by U.S. student activists in the 1960s and was eventually adopted by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, the “Asian” label masks the diverse demographics and wide economic disparities across the largest national origin groups (such as Chinese, Indian, Filipino) and the less populous ones (such as Bhutanese, Hmong and Nepalese) living in America. It also hides the varied circumstances of groups immigrated to the U.S. and how they started their lives there. The population’s diversity often presents challenges . Conventional survey methods typically reflect the voices of larger groups without fully capturing the broad range of views, attitudes, life starting points and perspectives experienced by Asian Americans. They can also limit understanding of the shared experiences across this diverse population.

Across all focus groups, some common findings emerged. Participants highlighted how the pan-ethnic “Asian” label used in the U.S. represented only one part of how they think of themselves. For example, recently arrived Asian immigrant participants told us they are drawn more to their ethnic identity than to the more general, U.S.-created pan-ethnic Asian American identity. Meanwhile, U.S.-born Asian participants shared how they identified, at times, as Asian but also, at other times, by their ethnic origin and as Americans.

Another common finding among focus group participants is the disconnect they noted between how they see themselves and how others view them. Sometimes this led to maltreatment of them or their families, especially at heightened moments in American history such as during Japanese incarceration during World War II, the aftermath of 9/11 and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond these specific moments, many in the focus groups offered their own experiences that had revealed other people’s assumptions or misconceptions about their identity.

Another shared finding is the multiple ways in which participants take and express pride in their cultural and ethnic backgrounds while also feeling at home in America, celebrating and blending their unique cultural traditions and practices with those of other Americans.

This focus group project is part of a broader research agenda about Asians living in the United States. The findings presented here offer a small glimpse of what participants told us, in their own words, about how they identify themselves, how others see and treat them, and more generally, what it means to be Asian in America.

Illustrations by Jing Li

Publications from the Being Asian in America project

• Read the data essay: What It Means to Be Asian in America
• Watch the documentary: Being Asian in America
• Explore the interactive: In Their Own Words: The Diverse Perspectives of Being Asian in America
• View expanded interviews: Extended Interviews: Being Asian in America
• About this research project: More on the Being Asian in America project
• Q&A: Why and how Pew Research Center conducted 66 focus groups with Asian Americans

One of the topics covered in each focus group was how participants viewed their own racial or ethnic identity. Moderators asked them how they viewed themselves, and what experiences informed their views about their identity. These discussions not only highlighted differences in how participants thought about their own racial or ethnic background, but they also revealed how different settings can influence how they would choose to identify themselves. Across all focus groups, the general theme emerged that being Asian was only one part of how participants viewed themselves.

The pan-ethnic label ‘Asian’ is often used more in formal settings

“I think when I think of the Asian Americans, I think that we’re all unique and different. We come from different cultures and backgrounds. We come from unique stories, not just as a group, but just as individual humans.” Mali , documentary participant

Many participants described a complicated relationship with the pan-ethnic labels “Asian” or “Asian American.” For some, using the term was less of an active choice and more of an imposed one, with participants discussing the disconnect between how they would like to identify themselves and the available choices often found in formal settings. For example, an immigrant Pakistani woman remarked how she typically sees “Asian American” on forms, but not more specific options. Similarly, an immigrant Burmese woman described her experience of applying for jobs and having to identify as “Asian,” as opposed to identifying by her ethnic background, because no other options were available. These experiences highlight the challenges organizations like government agencies and employers have in developing surveys or forms that ask respondents about their identity. A common sentiment is one like this:

“I guess … I feel like I just kind of check off ‘Asian’ [for] an application or the test forms. That’s the only time I would identify as Asian. But Asian is too broad. Asia is a big continent. Yeah, I feel like it’s just too broad. To specify things, you’re Taiwanese American, that’s exactly where you came from.”

–U.S.-born woman of Taiwanese origin in early 20s

Smaller ethnic groups default to ‘Asian’ since their groups are less recognizable

Other participants shared how their experiences in explaining the geographic location and culture of their origin country led them to prefer “Asian” when talking about themselves with others. This theme was especially prominent among those belonging to smaller origin groups such as Bangladeshis and Bhutanese. A Lao participant remarked she would initially say “Asian American” because people might not be familiar with “Lao.”

“​​[When I fill out] forms, I select ‘Asian American,’ and that’s why I consider myself as an Asian American. [It is difficult to identify as] Nepali American [since] there are no such options in forms. That’s why, Asian American is fine to me.”

–Immigrant woman of Nepalese origin in late 20s

“Coming to a big country like [the United States], when people ask where we are from … there are some people who have no idea about Bhutan, so we end up introducing ourselves as being Asian.”

–Immigrant woman of Bhutanese origin in late 40s

But for many, ‘Asian’ as a label or identity just doesn’t fit

Many participants felt that neither “Asian” nor “Asian American” truly captures how they view themselves and their identity. They argue that these labels are too broad or too ambiguous, as there are so many different groups included within these labels. For example, a U.S.-born Pakistani man remarked on how “Asian” lumps many groups together – that the term is not limited to South Asian groups such as Indian and Pakistani, but also includes East Asian groups. Similarly, an immigrant Nepalese man described how “Asian” often means Chinese for many Americans. A Filipino woman summed it up this way:

“Now I consider myself to be both Filipino and Asian American, but growing up in [Southern California] … I didn’t start to identify as Asian American until college because in [the Los Angeles suburb where I lived], it’s a big mix of everything – Black, Latino, Pacific Islander and Asian … when I would go into spaces where there were a lot of other Asians, especially East Asians, I didn’t feel like I belonged. … In media, right, like people still associate Asian with being East Asian.”

–U.S.-born woman of Filipino origin in mid-20s

Participants also noted they have encountered confusion or the tendency for others to view Asian Americans as people from mostly East Asian countries, such as China, Japan and Korea. For some, this confusion even extends to interactions with other Asian American groups. A Pakistani man remarked on how he rarely finds Pakistani or Indian brands when he visits Asian stores. Instead, he recalled mostly finding Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese items.

Among participants of South Asian descent, some identified with the label “South Asian” more than just “Asian.” There were other nuances, too, when it comes to the labels people choose. Some Indian participants, for example, said people sometimes group them with Native Americans who are also referred to as Indians in the United States. This Indian woman shared her experience at school:

“I love South Asian or ‘Desi’ only because up until recently … it’s fairly new to say South Asian. I’ve always said ‘Desi’ because growing up … I’ve had to say I’m the red dot Indian, not the feather Indian. So annoying, you know? … Always a distinction that I’ve had to make.”

–U.S.-born woman of Indian origin in late 20s

Participants with multiethnic or multiracial backgrounds described their own unique experiences with their identity. Rather than choosing one racial or ethnic group over the other, some participants described identifying with both groups, since this more accurately describes how they see themselves. In some cases, this choice reflected the history of the Asian diaspora. For example, an immigrant Cambodian man described being both Khmer/Cambodian and Chinese, since his grandparents came from China. Some other participants recalled going through an “identity crisis” as they navigated between multiple identities. As one woman explained:

“I would say I went through an identity crisis. … It’s because of being multicultural. … There’s also French in the mix within my family, too. Because I don’t identify, speak or understand the language, I really can’t connect to the French roots … I’m in between like Cambodian and Thai, and then Chinese and then French … I finally lumped it up. I’m just an Asian American and proud of all my roots.”

–U.S.-born woman of Cambodian origin in mid-30s

In other cases, the choice reflected U.S. patterns of intermarriage. Asian newlyweds have the highest intermarriage rate of any racial or ethnic group in the country. One Japanese-origin man with Hispanic roots noted:

“So I would like to see myself as a Hispanic Asian American. I want to say Hispanic first because I have more of my mom’s culture in me than my dad’s culture. In fact, I actually have more American culture than my dad’s culture for what I do normally. So I guess, Hispanic American Asian.”

–U.S.-born man of Hispanic and Japanese origin in early 40s

Other identities beyond race or ethnicity are also important

Focus group participants also talked about their identity beyond the racial or ethnic dimension. For example, one Chinese woman noted that the best term to describe her would be “immigrant.” Faith and religious ties were also important to some. One immigrant participant talked about his love of Pakistani values and how religion is intermingled into Pakistani culture. Another woman explained:

“[Japanese language and culture] are very important to me and ingrained in me because they were always part of my life, and I felt them when I was growing up. Even the word itadakimasu reflects Japanese culture or the tradition. Shinto religion is a part of the culture. They are part of my identity, and they are very important to me.”

–Immigrant woman of Japanese origin in mid-30s

For some, gender is another important aspect of identity. One Korean participant emphasized that being a woman is an important part of her identity. For others, sexual orientation is an essential part of their overall identity. One U.S.-born Filipino participant described herself as “queer Asian American.” Another participant put it this way:

“I belong to the [LGBTQ] community … before, what we only know is gay and lesbian. We don’t know about being queer, nonbinary. [Here], my horizon of knowing what genders and gender roles is also expanded … in the Philippines, if you’ll be with same sex, you’re considered gay or lesbian. But here … what’s happening is so broad, on how you identify yourself.”

–Immigrant woman of Filipino origin in early 20s

Immigrant identity is tied to their ethnic heritage

Participants born outside the United States tended to link their identity with their ethnic heritage. Some felt strongly connected with their ethnic ties due to their citizenship status. For others, the lack of permanent residency or citizenship meant they have stronger ties to their ethnicity and birthplace. And in some cases, participants said they held on to their ethnic identity even after they became U.S. citizens. One woman emphasized that she will always be Taiwanese because she was born there, despite now living in the U.S.

For other participants, family origin played a central role in their identity, regardless of their status in the U.S. According to some of them, this attitude was heavily influenced by their memories and experiences in early childhood when they were still living in their countries of origin. These influences are so profound that even after decades of living in the U.S., some still feel the strong connection to their ethnic roots. And those with U.S.-born children talked about sending their kids to special educational programs in the U.S. to learn about their ethnic heritage.

“Yes, as for me, I hold that I am Khmer because our nationality cannot be deleted, our identity is Khmer as I hold that I am Khmer … so I try, even [with] my children today, I try to learn Khmer through Zoom through the so-called Khmer Parent Association.”

–Immigrant man of Cambodian origin in late 50s

Navigating life in America is an adjustment

Many participants pointed to cultural differences they have noticed between their ethnic culture and U.S. culture. One of the most distinct differences is in food. For some participants, their strong attachment to the unique dishes of their families and their countries of origin helps them maintain strong ties to their ethnic identity. One Sri Lankan participant shared that her roots are still in Sri Lanka, since she still follows Sri Lankan traditions in the U.S. such as preparing kiribath (rice with coconut milk) and celebrating Ramadan.

For other participants, interactions in social settings with those outside their own ethnic group circles highlighted cultural differences. One Bangladeshi woman talked about how Bengalis share personal stories and challenges with each other, while others in the U.S. like to have “small talk” about TV series or clothes.

Many immigrants in the focus groups have found it is easier to socialize when they are around others belonging to their ethnicity. When interacting with others who don’t share the same ethnicity, participants noted they must be more self-aware about cultural differences to avoid making mistakes in social interactions. Here, participants described the importance of learning to “fit in,” to avoid feeling left out or excluded. One Korean woman said:

“Every time I go to a party, I feel unwelcome. … In Korea, when I invite guests to my house and one person sits without talking, I come over and talk and treat them as a host. But in the United States, I have to go and mingle. I hate mingling so much. I have to talk and keep going through unimportant stories. In Korea, I am assigned to a dinner or gathering. I have a party with a sense of security. In America, I have nowhere to sit, and I don’t know where to go and who to talk to.”

–Immigrant woman of Korean origin in mid-40s

And a Bhutanese immigrant explained:

“In my case, I am not an American. I consider myself a Bhutanese. … I am a Bhutanese because I do not know American culture to consider myself as an American. It is very difficult to understand the sense of humor in America. So, we are pure Bhutanese in America.”

–Immigrant man of Bhutanese origin in early 40s

Language was also a key aspect of identity for the participants. Many immigrants in the focus groups said they speak a language other than English at home and in their daily lives. One Vietnamese man considered himself Vietnamese since his Vietnamese is better than his English. Others emphasized their English skills. A Bangladeshi participant felt that she was more accepted in the workplace when she does more “American” things and speaks fluent English, rather than sharing things from Bangladeshi culture. She felt that others in her workplace correlate her English fluency with her ability to do her job. For others born in the U.S., the language they speak at home influences their connection to their ethnic roots.

“Now if I go to my work and do show my Bengali culture and Asian culture, they are not going to take anything out of it. So, basically, I have to show something that they are interested in. I have to show that I am American, [that] I can speak English fluently. I can do whatever you give me as a responsibility. So, in those cases I can’t show anything about my culture.”

–Immigrant woman of Bangladeshi origin in late 20s

“Being bi-ethnic and tri-cultural creates so many unique dynamics, and … one of the dynamics has to do with … what it is to be Americanized. … One of the things that played a role into how I associate the identity is language. Now, my father never spoke Spanish to me … because he wanted me to develop a fluency in English, because for him, he struggled with English. What happened was three out of the four people that raised me were Khmer … they spoke to me in Khmer. We’d eat breakfast, lunch and dinner speaking Khmer. We’d go to the temple in Khmer with the language and we’d also watch videos and movies in Khmer. … Looking into why I strongly identify with the heritage, one of the reasons is [that] speaking that language connects to the home I used to have [as my families have passed away].”

–U.S.-born man of Cambodian origin in early 30s

Balancing between individualistic and collective thinking

For some immigrant participants, the main differences between themselves and others who are seen as “truly American” were less about cultural differences, or how people behave, and more about differences in “mindset,” or how people think . Those who identified strongly with their ethnicity discussed how their way of thinking is different from a “typical American.” To some, the “American mentality” is more individualistic, with less judgment on what one should do or how they should act . One immigrant Japanese man, for example, talked about how other Japanese-origin co-workers in the U.S. would work without taking breaks because it’s culturally inconsiderate to take a break while others continued working. However, he would speak up for himself and other workers when they are not taking any work breaks. He attributed this to his “American” way of thinking, which encourages people to stand up for themselves.

Some U.S.-born participants who grew up in an immigrant family described the cultural clashes that happened between themselves and their immigrant parents. Participants talked about how the second generation (children of immigrant parents) struggles to pursue their own dreams while still living up to the traditional expectations of their immigrant parents.

“I feel like one of the biggest things I’ve seen, just like [my] Asian American friends overall, is the kind of family-individualistic clash … like wanting to do your own thing is like, is kind of instilled in you as an American, like go and … follow your dream. But then you just grow up with such a sense of like also wanting to be there for your family and to live up to those expectations, and I feel like that’s something that’s very pronounced in Asian cultures.”

–U.S.-born man of Indian origin in mid-20s

Discussions also highlighted differences about gender roles between growing up in America compared with elsewhere.

“As a woman or being a girl, because of your gender, you have to keep your mouth shut [and] wait so that they call on you for you to speak up. … I do respect our elders and I do respect hearing their guidance but I also want them to learn to hear from the younger person … because we have things to share that they might not know and that [are] important … so I like to challenge gender roles or traditional roles because it is something that [because] I was born and raised here [in America], I learn that we all have the equal rights to be able to speak and share our thoughts and ideas.”

U.S. born have mixed ties to their family’s heritage

“I think being Hmong is somewhat of being free, but being free of others’ perceptions of you or of others’ attempts to assimilate you or attempts to put pressure on you. I feel like being Hmong is to resist, really.” Pa Houa , documentary participant

How U.S.-born participants identify themselves depends on their familiarity with their own heritage, whom they are talking with, where they are when asked about their identity and what the answer is used for. Some mentioned that they have stronger ethnic ties because they are very familiar with their family’s ethnic heritage. Others talked about how their eating habits and preferred dishes made them feel closer to their ethnic identity. For example, one Korean participant shared his journey of getting closer to his Korean heritage because of Korean food and customs. When some participants shared their reasons for feeling closer to their ethnic identity, they also expressed a strong sense of pride with their unique cultural and ethnic heritage.

“I definitely consider myself Japanese American. I mean I’m Japanese and American. Really, ever since I’ve grown up, I’ve really admired Japanese culture. I grew up watching a lot of anime and Japanese black and white films. Just learning about [it], I would hear about Japanese stuff from my grandparents … myself, and my family having blended Japanese culture and American culture together.”

–U.S.-born man of Japanese origin in late 20s

Meanwhile, participants who were not familiar with their family’s heritage showed less connection with their ethnic ties. One U.S.-born woman said she has a hard time calling herself Cambodian, as she is “not close to the Cambodian community.” Participants with stronger ethnic ties talked about relating to their specific ethnic group more than the broader Asian group. Another woman noted that being Vietnamese is “more specific and unique than just being Asian” and said that she didn’t feel she belonged with other Asians. Some participants also disliked being seen as or called “Asian,” in part because they want to distinguish themselves from other Asian groups. For example, one Taiwanese woman introduces herself as Taiwanese when she can, because she had frequently been seen as Chinese.

Some in the focus groups described how their views of their own identities shifted as they grew older. For example, some U.S.-born and immigrant participants who came to the U.S. at younger ages described how their experiences in high school and the need to “fit in” were important in shaping their own identities. A Chinese woman put it this way:

“So basically, all I know is that I was born in the United States. Again, when I came back, I didn’t feel any barrier with my other friends who are White or Black. … Then I got a little confused in high school when I had trouble self-identifying if I am Asian, Chinese American, like who am I. … Should I completely immerse myself in the American culture? Should I also keep my Chinese identity and stuff like that? So yeah, that was like the middle of that mist. Now, I’m pretty clear about myself. I think I am Chinese American, Asian American, whatever people want.”

–U.S.-born woman of Chinese origin in early 20s

Identity is influenced by birthplace

“I identified myself first and foremost as American. Even on the forms that you fill out that says, you know, ‘Asian’ or ‘Chinese’ or ‘other,’ I would check the ‘other’ box, and I would put ‘American Chinese’ instead of ‘Chinese American.’” Brent , documentary participant

When talking about what it means to be “American,” participants offered their own definitions. For some, “American” is associated with acquiring a distinct identity alongside their ethnic or racial backgrounds, rather than replacing them. One Indian participant put it this way:

“I would also say [that I am] Indian American just because I find myself always bouncing between the two … it’s not even like dual identity, it just is one whole identity for me, like there’s not this separation. … I’m doing [both] Indian things [and] American things. … They use that term like ABCD … ‘American Born Confused Desi’ … I don’t feel that way anymore, although there are those moments … but I would say [that I am] Indian American for sure.”

–U.S.-born woman of Indian origin in early 30s

Meanwhile, some U.S.-born participants view being American as central to their identity while also valuing the culture of their family’s heritage.

Many immigrant participants associated the term “American” with immigration status or citizenship. One Taiwanese woman said she can’t call herself American since she doesn’t have a U.S. passport. Notably, U.S. citizenship is an important milestone for many immigrant participants, giving them a stronger sense of belonging and ultimately calling themselves American. A Bangladeshi participant shared that she hasn’t received U.S. citizenship yet, and she would call herself American after she receives her U.S. passport.

Other participants gave an even narrower definition, saying only those born and raised in the United States are truly American. One Taiwanese woman mentioned that her son would be American since he was born, raised and educated in the U.S. She added that while she has U.S. citizenship, she didn’t consider herself American since she didn’t grow up in the U.S. This narrower definition has implications for belonging. Some immigrants in the groups said they could never become truly American since the way they express themselves is so different from those who were born and raised in the U.S. A Japanese woman pointed out that Japanese people “are still very intimidated by authorities,” while those born and raised in America give their opinions without hesitation.

“As soon as I arrived, I called myself a Burmese immigrant. I had a green card, but I still wasn’t an American citizen. … Now I have become a U.S. citizen, so now I am a Burmese American.”

–Immigrant man of Burmese origin in mid-30s

“Since I was born … and raised here, I kind of always view myself as American first who just happened to be Asian or Chinese. So I actually don’t like the term Chinese American or Asian American. I’m American Asian or American Chinese. I view myself as American first.”

–U.S.-born man of Chinese origin in early 60s

“[I used to think of myself as] Filipino, but recently I started saying ‘Filipino American’ because I got [U.S.] citizenship. And it just sounds weird to say Filipino American, but I’m trying to … I want to accept it. I feel like it’s now marry-able to my identity.”

–Immigrant woman of Filipino origin in early 30s

For others, American identity is about the process of ‘becoming’ culturally American

Immigrant participants also emphasized how their experiences and time living in America inform their views of being an “American.” As a result, some started to see themselves as Americans after spending more than a decade in the U.S. One Taiwanese man considered himself an American since he knows more about the U.S. than Taiwan after living in the U.S. for over 52 years.

But for other immigrant participants, the process of “becoming” American is not about how long they have lived in the U.S., but rather how familiar they are with American culture and their ability to speak English with little to no accent. This is especially true for those whose first language is not English, as learning and speaking it without an accent can be a big challenge for some. One Bangladeshi participant shared that his pronunciation of “hot water” was very different from American English, resulting in confusions in communication. By contrast, those who were more confident in their English skills felt they can better understand American culture and values as a result, leading them to a stronger connection with an American identity.

“[My friends and family tease me for being Americanized when I go back to Japan.] I think I seem a little different to people who live in Japan. I don’t think they mean anything bad, and they [were] just joking, because I already know that I seem a little different to people who live in Japan.”

–Immigrant man of Japanese origin in mid-40s

“I value my Hmong culture, and language, and ethnicity, but I also do acknowledge, again, that I was born here in America and I’m grateful that I was born here, and I was given opportunities that my parents weren’t given opportunities for.”

–U.S.-born woman of Hmong origin in early 30s

During the focus group discussions about identity, a recurring theme emerged about the difference between how participants saw themselves and how others see them. When asked to elaborate on their experiences and their points of view, some participants shared experiences they had with people misidentifying their race or ethnicity. Others talked about their frustration with being labeled the “model minority.” In all these discussions, participants shed light on the negative impacts that mistaken assumptions and labels had on their lives.

All people see is ‘Asian’

For many, interactions with others (non-Asians and Asians alike) often required explaining their backgrounds, reacting to stereotypes, and for those from smaller origin groups in particular, correcting the misconception that being “Asian” means you come from one of the larger Asian ethnic groups. Several participants remarked that in their own experiences, when others think about Asians, they tend to think of someone who is Chinese. As one immigrant Filipino woman put it, “Interacting with [non-Asians in the U.S.], it’s hard. … Well, first, I look Spanish. I mean, I don’t look Asian, so would you guess – it’s like they have a vision of what an Asian [should] look like.” Similarly, an immigrant Indonesian man remarked how Americans tended to see Asians primarily through their physical features, which not all Asian groups share.

Several participants also described how the tendency to view Asians as a monolithic group can be even more common in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The first [thing people think of me as] is just Chinese. ‘You guys are just Chinese.’ I’m not the only one who felt [this] after the COVID-19 outbreak. ‘Whether you’re Japanese, Korean, or Southeast Asian, you’re just Chinese [to Americans]. I should avoid you.’ I’ve felt this way before, but I think I’ve felt it a bit more after the COVID-19 outbreak.”

–Immigrant woman of Korean origin in early 30s

At the same time, other participants described their own experiences trying to convince others that they are Asian or Asian American. This was a common experience among Southeast Asian participants.

“I have to convince people I’m Asian, not Middle Eastern. … If you type in Asian or you say Asian, most people associate it with Chinese food, Japanese food, karate, and like all these things but then they don’t associate it with you.”

–U.S.-born man of Pakistani origin in early 30s

The model minority myth and its impact

“I’ve never really done the best academically, compared to all my other Asian peers too. I never really excelled. I wasn’t in honors. … Those stereotypes, I think really [have] taken a toll on my self-esteem.” Diane , documentary participant

Across focus groups, immigrant and U.S.-born participants described the challenges of the seemingly positive stereotypes of Asians as intelligent, gifted in technical roles and hardworking. Participants often referred to this as the “model minority myth.”

The label “model minority” was coined in the 1960s and has been used to characterize Asian Americans as financially and educationally successful and hardworking when compared with other groups. However, for many Asians living in the United States, these characterizations do not align with their lived experiences or reflect their socioeconomic backgrounds. Indeed, among Asian origin groups in the U.S., there are wide differences in economic and social experiences. 

Academic research on the model minority myth has pointed to its impact beyond Asian Americans and towards other racial and ethnic groups, especially Black Americans, in the U.S. Some argue that the model minority myth has been used to justify policies that overlook the historical circumstances and impacts of colonialism, slavery, discrimination and segregation on other non-White racial and ethnic groups.

Many participants noted ways in which the model minority myth has been harmful. For some, expectations based on the myth didn’t match their own experiences of coming from impoverished communities. Some also recalled experiences at school when they struggled to meet their teachers’ expectations in math and science.

“As an Asian person, I feel like there’s that stereotype that Asian students are high achievers academically. They’re good at math and science. … I was a pretty mediocre student, and math and science were actually my weakest subjects, so I feel like it’s either way you lose. Teachers expect you to fit a certain stereotype and if you’re not, then you’re a disappointment, but at the same time, even if you are good at math and science, that just means that you’re fitting a stereotype. It’s [actually] your own achievement, but your teachers might think, ‘Oh, it’s because they’re Asian,’ and that diminishes your achievement.”

–U.S.-born woman of Korean origin in late 20s

Some participants felt that even when being Asian worked in their favor in the job market, they encountered stereotypes that “Asians can do quality work with less compensation” or that “Asians would not complain about anything at work.”

“There is a joke from foreigners and even Asian Americans that says, ‘No matter what you do, Asians always do the best.’ You need to get A, not just B-plus. Otherwise, you’ll be a disgrace to the family. … Even Silicon Valley hires Asian because [an] Asian’s wage is cheaper but [they] can work better. When [work] visa overflow happens, they hire Asians like Chinese and Indian to work in IT fields because we are good at this and do not complain about anything.”

–Immigrant man of Thai origin in early 40s

Others expressed frustration that people were placing them in the model minority box. One Indian woman put it this way:

“Indian people and Asian people, like … our parents or grandparents are the ones who immigrated here … against all odds. … A lot of Indian and Asian people have succeeded and have done really well for themselves because they’ve worked themselves to the bone. So now the expectations [of] the newer generations who were born here are incredibly unrealistic and high. And you get that not only from your family and the Indian community, but you’re also getting it from all of the American people around you, expecting you to be … insanely good at math, play an instrument, you know how to do this, you know how to do that, but it’s not true. And it’s just living with those expectations, it’s difficult.”

–U.S.-born woman of Indian origin in early 20s

Whether U.S. born or immigrants, Asians are often seen by others as foreigners

“Being only not quite 10 years old, it was kind of exciting to ride on a bus to go someplace. But when we went to Pomona, the assembly center, we were stuck in one of the stalls they used for the animals.” Tokiko , documentary participant

Across all focus groups, participants highlighted a common question they are asked in America when meeting people for the first time: “Where are you really from?” For participants, this question implied that people think they are “foreigners,” even though they may be longtime residents or citizens of the United States or were born in the country. One man of Vietnamese origin shared his experience with strangers who assumed that he and his friends are North Korean. Perhaps even more hurtful, participants mentioned that this meant people had a preconceived notion of what an “American” is supposed to look like, sound like or act like. One Chinese woman said that White Americans treated people like herself as outsiders based on her skin color and appearance, even though she was raised in the U.S.

Many focus group participants also acknowledged the common stereotype of treating Asians as “forever foreigners.” Some immigrant participants said they felt exhausted from constantly being asked this question by people even when they speak perfect English with no accent. During the discussion, a Korean immigrant man recalled that someone had said to him, “You speak English well, but where are you from?” One Filipino participant shared her experience during the first six months in the U.S.:

“You know, I spoke English fine. But there were certain things that, you know, people constantly questioning you like, oh, where are you from? When did you come here? You know, just asking about your experience to the point where … you become fed up with it after a while.”

–Immigrant woman of Filipino origin in mid-30s

U.S.-born participants also talked about experiences when others asked where they are from. Many shared that they would not talk about their ethnic origin right away when answering such a question because it often led to misunderstandings and assumptions that they are immigrants.

“I always get that question of, you know, ‘Where are you from?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m from America.’ And then they’re like, ‘No. Where are you from-from ?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, my family is from Pakistan,’ so it’s like I always had like that dual identity even though it’s never attached to me because I am like, of Pakistani descent.”

–U.S.-born man of Pakistani origin in early 20s

One Korean woman born in the U.S. said that once people know she is Korean, they ask even more offensive questions such as “Are you from North or South Korea?” or “Do you still eat dogs?”

In a similar situation, this U.S.-born Indian woman shared her responses:

“I find that there’s a, ‘So but where are you from?’ Like even in professional settings when they feel comfortable enough to ask you. ‘So – so where are you from?’ ‘Oh, I was born in [names city], Colorado. Like at [the hospital], down the street.’ ‘No, but like where are you from?’ ‘My mother’s womb?’”

–U.S.-born woman of Indian origin in early 40s

Ignorance and misinformation about Asian identity can lead to contentious encounters

“I have dealt with kids who just gave up on their Sikh identity, cut their hair and groomed their beard and everything. They just wanted to fit in and not have to deal with it, especially [those] who are victim or bullied in any incident.” Surinder , documentary participant

In some cases, ignorance and misinformation about Asians in the U.S. lead to inappropriate comments or questions and uncomfortable or dangerous situations. Participants shared their frustration when others asked about their country of origin, and they then had to explain their identity or correct misunderstandings or stereotypes about their background. At other times, some participants faced ignorant comments about their ethnicity, which sometimes led to more contentious encounters. For example, some Indian or Pakistani participants talked about the attacks or verbal abuse they experienced from others blaming them for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Others discussed the racial slurs directed toward them since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Some Japanese participants recalled their families losing everything and being incarcerated during World War II and the long-term effect it had on their lives.

“I think like right now with the coronavirus, I think we’re just Chinese, Chinese American, well, just Asian American or Asians in general, you’re just going through the same struggles right now. Like everyone is just blaming whoever looks Asian about the virus. You don’t feel safe.”

–U.S.-born man of Chinese origin in early 30s

“At the beginning of the pandemic, a friend and I went to celebrate her birthday at a club and like these guys just kept calling us COVID.”

–U.S.-born woman of Korean origin in early 20s

“There [were] a lot of instances after 9/11. One day, somebody put a poster about 9/11 [in front of] my business. He was wearing a gun. … On the poster, it was written ‘you Arabs, go back to your country.’ And then someone came inside. He pointed his gun at me and said ‘Go back to your country.’”

–Immigrant man of Pakistani origin in mid-60s

“[My parents went through the] internment camps during World War II. And my dad, he was in high school, so he was – they were building the camps and then he was put into the Santa Anita horse track place, the stables there. And then they were sent – all the Japanese Americans were sent to different camps, right, during World War II and – in California. Yeah, and they lost everything, yeah.”

–U.S.-born woman of Japanese origin in mid-60s

As focus group participants contemplated their identity during the discussions, many talked about their sense of belonging in America. Although some felt frustrated with people misunderstanding their ethnic heritage, they didn’t take a negative view of life in America. Instead, many participants – both immigrant and U.S. born – took pride in their unique cultural and ethnic backgrounds. In these discussions, people gave their own definitions of America as a place with a diverse set of cultures, with their ethnic heritage being a part of it.

Taking pride in their unique cultures

“Being a Pakistani American, I’m proud. … Because I work hard, and I make true my dreams from here.” Shahid , documentary participant

Despite the challenges of adapting to life in America for immigrant participants or of navigating their dual cultural identity for U.S.-born ones, focus group participants called America their home. And while participants talked about their identities in different ways – ethnic identity, racial (Asian) identity, and being American – they take pride in their unique cultures. Many also expressed a strong sense of responsibility to give back or support their community, sharing their cultural heritage with others on their own terms.

“Right now it has been a little difficult. I think it has been for all Asians because of the COVID issue … but I’m glad that we’re all here [in America]. I think we should be proud to be here. I’m glad that our families have traveled here, and we can help make life better for communities, our families and ourselves. I think that’s really a wonderful thing. We can be those role models for a lot of the future, the younger folks. I hope that something I did in the last years will have impacted either my family, friends or students that I taught in other community things that I’ve done. So you hope that it helps someplace along the line.”

“I am very proud of my culture. … There is not a single Bengali at my workplace, but people know the name of my country. Maybe many years [later] – educated people know all about the country. So, I don’t have to explain that there is a small country next to India and Nepal. It’s beyond saying. People after all know Bangladesh. And there are so many Bengali present here as well. So, I am very proud to be a Bangladeshi.”

Where home is

When asked about the definition of home, some immigrant participants said home is where their families are located. Immigrants in the focus groups came to the United States by various paths, whether through work opportunities, reuniting with family or seeking a safe haven as refugees. Along their journey, some received support from family members, their local community or other individuals, while others overcame challenges by themselves. Either way, they take pride in establishing their home in America and can feel hurt when someone tells them to “go back to your country.” In response, one Laotian woman in her mid-40s said, “This is my home. My country. Go away.”

“If you ask me personally, I view my home as my house … then I would say my house is with my family because wherever I go, I cannot marry if I do not have my family so that is how I would answer.”

–Immigrant man of Hmong origin in late 30s

“[If somebody yelled at me ‘go back to your country’] I’d feel angry because this is my country! I live here. America is my country. I grew up here and worked here … I’d say, ‘This is my country! You go back to your country! … I will not go anywhere. This is my home. I will live here.’ That’s what I’d say.”

–Immigrant woman of Laotian origin in early 50s

‘American’ means to blend their unique cultural and ethnic heritage with that in the U.S.

“I want to teach my children two traditions – one American and one Vietnamese – so they can compare and choose for themselves the best route in life.” Helen , documentary participant (translated from Vietnamese)

Both U.S.-born and immigrant participants in the focus groups shared their experiences of navigating a dual cultural environment between their ethnic heritage and American culture. A common thread that emerged was that being Asian in America is a process of blending two or more identities as one.

“Yeah, I want to say that’s how I feel – because like thinking about it, I would call my dad Lao but I would call myself Laotian American because I think I’m a little more integrated in the American society and I’ve also been a little more Americanized, compared to my dad. So that’s how I would see it.”

–U.S.-born man of Laotian origin in late 20s

“I mean, Bangladeshi Americans who are here, we are carrying Bangladeshi culture, religion, food. I am also trying to be Americanized like the Americans. Regarding language, eating habits.”

–Immigrant man of Bangladeshi origin in mid-50s

“Just like there is Chinese American, Mexican American, Japanese American, Italian American, so there is Indian American. I don’t want to give up Indianness. I am American by nationality, but I am Indian by birth. So whenever I talk, I try to show both the flags as well, both Indian and American flags. Just because you make new relatives but don’t forget the old relatives.”

–Immigrant man of Indian origin in late 40s

Pew Research Center designed these focus groups to better understand how members of an ethnically diverse Asian population think about their place in America and life here. By including participants of different languages, immigration or refugee experiences, educational backgrounds, and income levels, this focus group study aimed to capture in people’s own words what it means to be Asian in America. The discussions in these groups may or may not resonate with all Asians living in the United States. Browse excerpts from our focus groups with the interactive quote sorter below, view a video documentary focused on the topics discussed in the focus groups, or tell us your story of belonging in America via social media. The focus group project is part of a broader research project studying the diverse experiences of Asians living in the U.S.

Read sortable quotes from our focus groups

Browse excerpts in the interactive quote sorter from focus group participants in response to the question “What does it mean to be [Vietnamese, Thai, Sri Lankan, Hmong, etc.] like yourself in America?” This interactive allows you to sort quotes from focus group participants by ethnic origin, nativity (U.S. born or born in another country), gender and age.

Video documentary

Videos throughout the data essay illustrate what focus group participants discussed. Those recorded in these videos did not participate in the focus groups but were sampled to have similar demographic characteristics and thematically relevant stories.

Watch the full video documentary and watch additional shorter video clips related to the themes of this data essay.

Share the story of your family and your identity

Did the voices in this data essay resonate? Share your story of what it means to be Asian in America with @pewresearch. Tell us your story by using the hashtag #BeingAsianInAmerica and @pewidentity on Twitter, as well as #BeingAsianInAmerica and @pewresearch on Instagram.

This cross-ethnic, comparative qualitative research project explores the identity, economic mobility, representation, and experiences of immigration and discrimination among the Asian population in the United States. The analysis is based on 66 focus groups we conducted virtually in the fall of 2021 and included 264 participants from across the U.S. More information about the groups and analysis can be found in this appendix .

Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This data essay was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the Henry Luce Foundation; The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation; The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation; The Long Family Foundation; Lu-Hebert Fund; Gee Family Foundation; Joseph Cotchett; the Julian Abdey and Sabrina Moyle Charitable Fund; and Nanci Nishimura.

The accompanying video clips and video documentary were made possible by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from The Sobrato Family Foundation and The Long Family Foundation.

We would also like to thank the Leaders Forum for its thought leadership and valuable assistance in helping make this study possible. This is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of a number of individuals and experts at Pew Research Center and outside experts.

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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of  The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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• College essay
• How to Write a Diversity Essay | Tips & Examples

How to Write a Diversity Essay | Tips & Examples

Published on November 1, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on May 31, 2023.

Table of contents

What is a diversity essay, identify how you will enrich the campus community, share stories about your lived experience, explain how your background or identity has affected your life, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Diversity essays ask students to highlight an important aspect of their identity, background, culture, experience, viewpoints, beliefs, skills, passions, goals, etc.

Diversity essays can come in many forms. Some scholarships are offered specifically for students who come from an underrepresented background or identity in higher education. At highly competitive schools, supplemental diversity essays require students to address how they will enhance the student body with a unique perspective, identity, or background.

In the Common Application and applications for several other colleges, some main essay prompts ask about how your background, identity, or experience has affected you.

Why schools want a diversity essay

Many universities believe a student body representing different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community.

Through the diversity essay, admissions officers want students to articulate the following:

• What makes them different from other applicants
• Stories related to their background, identity, or experience
• How their unique lived experience has affected their outlook, activities, and goals

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Think about what aspects of your identity or background make you unique, and choose one that has significantly impacted your life.

For some students, it may be easy to identify what sets them apart from their peers. But if you’re having trouble identifying what makes you different from other applicants, consider your life from an outsider’s perspective. Don’t presume your lived experiences are normal or boring just because you’re used to them.

Some examples of identities or experiences that you might write about include the following:

• Race/ethnicity
• Gender identity
• Sexual orientation
• Nationality
• Socioeconomic status
• Immigration background
• Religion/belief system
• Place of residence
• Family circumstances
• Extracurricular activities related to diversity

Include vulnerable, authentic stories about your lived experiences. Maintain focus on your experience rather than going into too much detail comparing yourself to others or describing their experiences.

Keep the focus on you

Tell a story about how your background, identity, or experience has impacted you. While you can briefly mention another person’s experience to provide context, be sure to keep the essay focused on you. Admissions officers are mostly interested in learning about your lived experience, not anyone else’s.

When I was a baby, my grandmother took me in, even though that meant postponing her retirement and continuing to work full-time at the local hairdresser. Even working every shift she could, she never missed a single school play or soccer game.

She and I had a really special bond, even creating our own special language to leave each other secret notes and messages. She always pushed me to succeed in school, and celebrated every academic achievement like it was worthy of a Nobel Prize. Every month, any leftover tip money she received at work went to a special 509 savings plan for my college education.

When I was in the 10th grade, my grandmother was diagnosed with ALS. We didn’t have health insurance, and what began with quitting soccer eventually led to dropping out of school as her condition worsened. In between her doctor’s appointments, keeping the house tidy, and keeping her comfortable, I took advantage of those few free moments to study for the GED.

In school pictures at Raleigh Elementary School, you could immediately spot me as “that Asian girl.” At lunch, I used to bring leftover fun see noodles, but after my classmates remarked how they smelled disgusting, I begged my mom to make a “regular” lunch of sliced bread, mayonnaise, and deli meat.

Although born and raised in North Carolina, I felt a cultural obligation to learn my “mother tongue” and reconnect with my “homeland.” After two years of all-day Saturday Chinese school, I finally visited Beijing for the first time, expecting I would finally belong. While my face initially assured locals of my Chinese identity, the moment I spoke, my cover was blown. My Chinese was littered with tonal errors, and I was instantly labeled as an “ABC,” American-born Chinese.

I felt culturally homeless.

Speak from your own experience

Highlight your actions, difficulties, and feelings rather than comparing yourself to others. While it may be tempting to write about how you have been more or less fortunate than those around you, keep the focus on you and your unique experiences, as shown below.

I began to despair when the FAFSA website once again filled with red error messages.

I had been at the local library for hours and hadn’t even been able to finish the form, much less the other to-do items for my application.

I am the first person in my family to even consider going to college. My parents work two jobs each, but even then, it’s sometimes very hard to make ends meet. Rather than playing soccer or competing in speech and debate, I help my family by taking care of my younger siblings after school and on the weekends.

“We only speak one language here. Speak proper English!” roared a store owner when I had attempted to buy bread and accidentally used the wrong preposition.

In middle school, I had relentlessly studied English grammar textbooks and received the highest marks.

Leaving Seoul was hard, but living in West Orange, New Jersey was much harder一especially navigating everyday communication with Americans.

After sharing relevant personal stories, make sure to provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your perspective, activities, and goals. You should also explain how your background led you to apply to this university and why you’re a good fit.

Include your outlook, actions, and goals

Conclude your essay with an insight about how your background or identity has affected your outlook, actions, and goals. You should include specific actions and activities that you have done as a result of your insight.

One night, before the midnight premiere of Avengers: Endgame , I stopped by my best friend Maria’s house. Her mother prepared tamales, churros, and Mexican hot chocolate, packing them all neatly in an Igloo lunch box. As we sat in the line snaking around the AMC theater, I thought back to when Maria and I took salsa classes together and when we belted out Selena’s “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” at karaoke. In that moment, as I munched on a chicken tamale, I realized how much I admired the beauty, complexity, and joy in Maria’s culture but had suppressed and devalued my own.

The following semester, I joined Model UN. Since then, I have learned how to proudly represent other countries and have gained cultural perspectives other than my own. I now understand that all cultures, including my own, are equal. I still struggle with small triggers, like when I go through airport security and feel a suspicious glance toward me, or when I feel self-conscious for bringing kabsa to school lunch. But in the future, I hope to study and work in international relations to continue learning about other cultures and impart a positive impression of Saudi culture to the world.

The smell of the early morning dew and the welcoming whinnies of my family’s horses are some of my most treasured childhood memories. To this day, our farm remains so rural that we do not have broadband access, and we’re too far away from the closest town for the postal service to reach us.

Going to school regularly was always a struggle: between the unceasing demands of the farm and our lack of connectivity, it was hard to keep up with my studies. Despite being a voracious reader, avid amateur chemist, and active participant in the classroom, emergencies and unforeseen events at the farm meant that I had a lot of unexcused absences.

Although it had challenges, my upbringing taught me resilience, the value of hard work, and the importance of family. Staying up all night to watch a foal being born, successfully saving the animals from a minor fire, and finding ways to soothe a nervous mare afraid of thunder have led to an unbreakable family bond.

Our farm is my family’s birthright and our livelihood, and I am eager to learn how to ensure the farm’s financial and technological success for future generations. In college, I am looking forward to joining a chapter of Future Farmers of America and studying agricultural business to carry my family’s legacy forward.

Tailor your answer to the university

After explaining how your identity or background will enrich the university’s existing student body, you can mention the university organizations, groups, or courses in which you’re interested.

Maybe a larger public school setting will allow you to broaden your community, or a small liberal arts college has a specialized program that will give you space to discover your voice and identity. Perhaps this particular university has an active affinity group you’d like to join.

Demonstrating how a university’s specific programs or clubs are relevant to you can show that you’ve done your research and would be a great addition to the university.

At the University of Michigan Engineering, I want to study engineering not only to emulate my mother’s achievements and strength, but also to forge my own path as an engineer with disabilities. I appreciate the University of Michigan’s long-standing dedication to supporting students with disabilities in ways ranging from accessible housing to assistive technology. At the University of Michigan Engineering, I want to receive a top-notch education and use it to inspire others to strive for their best, regardless of their circumstances.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

In addition to your main college essay , some schools and scholarships may ask for a supplementary essay focused on an aspect of your identity or background. This is sometimes called a diversity essay .

Many universities believe a student body composed of different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community, which is why they assign a diversity essay .

To write an effective diversity essay , include vulnerable, authentic stories about your unique identity, background, or perspective. Provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your outlook, activities, and goals. If relevant, you should also mention how your background has led you to apply for this university and why you’re a good fit.

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Essay Samples on Asian American Culture

Main differences between chinese and american culture.

Culture can be defined as the ways of thinking, ways of acting, and the material objects that make up a person’s way of life. I have decided to compare and contrast the American and Chinese cultures. Both cultures have similarities when dealing with religion and...

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Types Of Cultural Racism: Islamophobia

These developments establish a framework for which political discourses, media outlets, and institutional design are addressed in terms of religion and cultural differences. In the coverage of 9/11, news media outlets and officials never once deviated from the response that this terror attack was attributed...

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Asian American Discrimination In Education

When we imagine getting into college in the US it often looks like a race to fill a limited number of seats. Harvard's recent discrimination lawsuit allegedly discriminating against Asian Americans students has once more highlighted the affirmative action debate. But the problem is, the...

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Racial Stereotypes Of Asian Americans In The Media

Racism, stereotyping, and discrimination all remain prevalent matters in modern American society. This is especially evident looking into one of America's most powerful outlets of information and entertainment, the media. Hollywood is one example that often sacrifices the accurate portrayal of the race for the...

Representation Of Asian Americans In Hollywood

Western movies are among the top of the movie industry, best known for their works which depict many cultural references. With the nonstop expansion in the movie market, to attract viewers from many countries throughout the world, many movie industries had started to recruit more...

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Lack Of Asian American Representation In Media

There is a lack of Asian American representation in mainstream media. I remember a time in my childhood where I would turn the TV on and find numerous shows without an Asian American cast member. As the years passed, I started to notice that more...

Comparing Japanese-American and Cuban-American Experiences

Introduction Japanese-Americans and Cuban-Americans are two important, medium-sized racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. Neither is the largest group within the full number of Americans of Asian and Latino ancestry, but both are sizable. There are many differences in the history of...

Model Minority Myth'S Perverse Effects On Asian Americans

As “melting-pot” America burgeoned with immigration, Asian American popular culture developed contemporaneously. Popular culture — as John Storey discusses in What is Popular Culture? — is an “empty” term that attempts to amalgamate both commentary and caricature of ideology and culture. Asian American popular culture...

• Immigration in America

Asian-American Immigrant Literature and Highlighting Their Culture

Introduction A cursory glance at the scientific discourse on migration literature in Europe of the last two decades shows that it is increasingly heralded as a ‘new world literature’. Migration literature transcribes the experience of everyday life in a globalized world and reflects on the...

Best topics on Asian American Culture

1. Main Differences Between Chinese and American Culture

2. Types Of Cultural Racism: Islamophobia

3. Asian American Discrimination In Education

4. Racial Stereotypes Of Asian Americans In The Media

5. Representation Of Asian Americans In Hollywood

6. Lack Of Asian American Representation In Media

7. Comparing Japanese-American and Cuban-American Experiences

8. Model Minority Myth’S Perverse Effects On Asian Americans

9. Asian-American Immigrant Literature and Highlighting Their Culture

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Personal essay: Grappling with internalized racism and Asian American identity

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Even as a child, I remember wanting to be white. I didn’t have the vocabulary then but there was a sense of inferiority I associated with my Asianness. This hollowed-out feeling arose whenever my mother spoke in broken English to the store cashier, or when I ate from a Zojirushi lunch thermos packed with rice, or when the guys in my class said they would only date white girls. 

My parents immigrated here in 1989 with no more than $500, even less according to my father. Whenever I brought up any of my racial qualms, my mother would say, “Your grandfather” who I called lao ye, “climbed three mountains without shoes to go to school every day. Both his mother and father passed away when he was a teenager.” Lao ye would become a CEO and travel to over fifty countries. My problems paled in comparison. With a mental image of my grandfather, I began placing academics ahead of my grapplings with race.

In my freshman year at Brown University, I planned on majoring in statistics. But because of our school’s open curriculum, I also decided to take my first sociology course with Professor Itzigsohn. It was called “Race, class, and ethnicity in the modern world.” His research and all of his data fascinated me. And when he mentioned how the Asian American population in the United States could use further exploration, I took the opportunity to propose a project with him. Our goal was to discover how Asian Americans fit into the racial and class structure in our country. 

I worked with thousands of cases of Asian Americans and understood their lives through data and I saw how Asian Americans who are allowed to immigrate to the United States have higher levels of income and education. They are heralded for their hard work and attainment of the American Dream. Under the guise of the “model minority myth,” the illusion of equality and prosperity in our country is sustained.

But it is an illusion. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, I witnessed how Asian Americans can still be deemed as foreigners in the same place that heralds their success as the cause of others’ failures. The surge in hate crimes in our community shows that Asian Americans are still first and foremost seen for their skin color. The news article from which I learned about the killings in Atlanta said the shooter’s motive was unknown. He was a sex addict who hated women. I had the fleeting thought that race could have also been a coincidence in this case–the situation was complicated, right? There were so many factors involved in this tragedy, but I could no longer ignore that race was the driving one.

For all the times I was hurt, scared, enraged, and struggling with internalized racism, I have finally recognized who I am in America, an Asian woman. It’s a lot to take in–all the recent violence and the realization that it’s the right thing to challenge unjust systems. That it’s right to address racial inequities and call discrimination by its name. 

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Asian American College Essays Samples For Students

108 samples of this type

If you're looking for a possible method to streamline writing a College Essay about Asian American, WowEssays.com paper writing service just might be able to help you out.

For starters, you should browse our large database of free samples that cover most various Asian American College Essay topics and showcase the best academic writing practices. Once you feel that you've analyzed the basic principles of content organization and drawn actionable insights from these expertly written College Essay samples, putting together your own academic work should go much smoother.

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Good Example Of Asian American Group Culture And Mental Health Essay

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Asian American Art Essay Examples

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This paper answers two fundamental questions in two sections. They will cover aspects of the AAS course and provide an insight into relevant issues and matters relating to the Asian American community and history.

Question 1: Race, Racialization and the Law

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A. In the third part of the poster project, I visited the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, where I gained insights in the following ideas: the history of Chinese in Monterey Park, acupuncture, and the abacus.

Various writings and materials at the Museum provide information about Chinese history in Monterey Park.

Acupuncture, a healing technique that utilizes fine needles inserted into points of the body, was first accepted officially as a medical practice in California in 1976. The abacus was invented to do mathematical calculations in China and it is still used by shops in Asia and Chinese American communities in North America. B.

Presently, Monterey Park is one of the cities in the United States that accommodates the largest population of Chinese Americans.

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Brief introduction of what the civil rights movement was about; Reasons why the black population of the America rose against the whites Three major issues that the discrimination was about; role played by martin Luther king jr. Native Americans Brief discussion of the sufferings the natives had to face; how they were inspired by martin king; kinds of discrimination against the natives. Some facts regarding the discrimination;

Vision of equality and non-violence in protests;

Example of the experiences of the immigrant groups essay, assimilation into the american culture essay sample.

Asian Americans used the comic novels to tell their stories regarding the turbulent racist stereotypes that they had to undergo. The novelist developed narratives of some of the real-life experience of many young Asian Americans who were willing to do anything just to be recognized and appreciated by other Americans. This essay correlates racial discrimination with the desire of being American or Westernized.

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Good Example Of Essay On American Born Chinese

Korean immigrants in the united states essay, race, class, and political attitudes essay, race, class, and political attitudes.

Introduction Political attitudes are the effect political socialization, religion and families’ roles; it can also be originated from political elites who have some share of political powers and even the views between genders and races. African-Americans do also have their political beliefs as what is shown in their current socioeconomic positions, which can be explained with their history. The matter also goes with Latinos, Asian-Americans, women and homosexuals.

Political Attitudes

Asian american history essay, discipline and values of families based on culture perspective essay examples, proper essay example about chinese immigration and ethnoscapes.

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Before You Write Your College Essay About Being Asian

Look, there’s no easy way to say this.

There’s a big elephant in the room –it was there the moment you opened this article. Want to know its name?

Racism. Its name is racism.

That’s right. It’s on your mind, it’s on your parents’ mind, and it’s on my mind. Want to know what’s crazy?

I’ve worked with Asian-American students struggling to stand out in their college admissions essays since the dinosaurs. Well, not really. I started working with people on their college admissions when I left my job working in test prep. Nonetheless, the same white elephant in the room that is racism always loomed over both my clients and me. Let’s face it:

If you’re applying to college as an Asian person, you will have a harder time getting accepted .

By the time you’re reading this article, though, you must have figured out the “loophole”.

“If I write a good college essay about being Asian, I”might” be able to negate the negative effects of affirmative action rules that work against me. If my essay is good enough, I can probably turn the tides and make my Asianness work in my favor! –You, probably.

Look at you! You’re so smart! That’s why you should never be allowed into university…

We’re kidding! We’re kidding.

But seriously: if you thought you can write a college essay about being Asian as a way of sneaking past the affirmative action rules, you’re right… sort of. You can write your college essay about being Asian, but there are very important rules you must follow.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to write your college essay about being Asian. I’m basing this advice on the previous years of experience I had helping Asian students –both American and international– get accepted into competitive schools like UCSD, UCLA, and BU.

Table of Contents

How To Stand Out Amongst Everyone Else.

• Writing Your College Essay About Being Asian: Dive Deeper Into Detail

Writing The Equality and Equity Narrative In Your Favour.

Demonstrating worth and value as an asset., how to write your college essay about being asian.

This is going to be one of the most difficult parts of writing your college essay about being Asian.

When writing your essay, keep in mind that you’ll be competing with a million other students who are also writing about their Asian culture. Not only will you be writing to compete against the rest, but also to impress the admissions officers in the wake of affirmative action.

This won’t be easy. Especially because it means you’ll need a stronger essay than what is normally accepted.

Here are a few things you can do to stand out when writing your college essay about being Asian.

• Get into detail about your experience as an Asian person. That includes not just the surface level (example: food, culture, clothing), but also the way it felt (how delicious Asian food can be used as a manipulative tactic in abusive households)
• The struggles that Asian people, particularly you, go through that many others may not comprehend.
• Demonstrate the relevance being Asian has on your identity. I.e. why is it even important?
• Make a strong introduction to your essay. We provided a tutorial on this here .
• Use unique diction to describe the details of your experience as an Asian person.

Make sure you have these elements in your essay. With that said, let’s deconstruct and elaborate on number 1 in the next section below.

Writing Your College Essay About Being Asian: Get More In Detail

Make sure to write your college essay about being Asian with deeper details on your Asian background. Let’s take the example demonstrated in the first item of the list.

“ As an Asian-American student, I found the good food that comes with Asian cooking an integral part of my life. It is very well-connected to everyting that happens in the Asian household. This part of my culture also makes up a part of my identity. I would love to share this identity with the rest of my fellow peers at Stanford University. “ Bad example of details in the application essay.

Notice how this example doesn’t really get into detail about how exactly food in Asian culture is so deeply connected with everyday life? We can understand what the applicant is talking about from a surface level, but we can’t understand more without the applicant writing more in-depth content. That means you’ll need to get your fingers dirty with direct examples and strong imagery. Let the admissions officers use their imagination to visualize what your life is like!

Let’s see this in action in another example.

“As an Asian-American student, food intertwines with every aspect of my life. That’s not to say that I’m consuming 12,000 calories a day; rather, I live a life where food’s presence has dug its heels into practically everything. During late-night study sessions, it is customary for my fellow Asian-American students and I to run to the local Quickly boba shop for a mix of popcorn chicken and boba drinks. Of course, the focus of these late-night sessions were to focus solely on our midterms and finals. However, our tests quickly became associated with the crunchy chicken bites and sweet, cold boba drinks. It was strange, but also surreal in some ways to see my diverse group of friends all gathered together to work on their own projects and assignments. Jessica Vu. Volunteer for the local animal shelter and president of the Future Business Leaders of America. Drink of choice: matcha smoothie with boba. Andrew Wang: Member of the varsity tennis team. My best friend since orchestra, and with whom I share inside jokes with during cello rehearsals. Drink of choice: regular boba milk tea. Classy. Ethan Nguyen: Changed his major from computer science to history. Parents are mad. Super mad. Drink of choice: chrysanthemum tea with lychee jelly. We all had our own tastes, and we all had our own academic backgrounds complete with unique experiences. Yet, in some strange cosmological way, we all bonded over the same thing: a sugary drink with tapioca toppings swirling around in the bottom. These drinks were there for us during all of our struggles. It sat through Jessica’s presentation edits for her FBLA meetings, it made cello rehearsals a little sweeter for Andrew, and it helped Ethan make studying history more bearable with his parents’ pressuring him to switch majors back into comp sci. For me, it was there through it all. My Jasmine green tea with half sugar, half ice, and rainbow jelly: it sat through many late night hours with my study friends, watching me scowl at a screen as I had to –continually over the span of weeks– reorient my software development startup from the ground up.” Good example of details in the application essay.

The difference between the first and second examples is that the second example dives much deeper in-depth into the influence and effects of Asian food in the applicant’s life. We can see how the applicant doesn’t just talk about Asian food in general. They get specific and talk about the types of food such as boba and popcorn chicken that so often compliments Asian American youths.

Think about a time when your Asian culture specifically had a special place in your heart. This doesn’t have to be something positive. You can shed light on the negatives that people often don’t see in Asian culture. For instance, you can get into detail about how the brutal academic Japanese culture had carved into your social life and pathologized your relationship with friends and family.

The threat of affirmative action looms over the heads of both White and Asian students.

This article isn’t going to make assertions on the morality of admissions policies; however, we are going to address the equality and equity problem. More importantly, what you can do about it as an Asian applicant.

The nature of college admissions is aimed to give disadvantaged students the opportunity to build up their careers. You can think of this as the equality and equity narrative: the overarching goal of admissions officers to “equalize” the playing field by making “advantaged Asians” a lower priority.

The overarching narrative is that Asian students are more advantaged than other applicants because of their cultural emphasis on academics and financial advantages. This, of course, paints the Asian community with very broad brushstrokes. It misses all the specific disadvantages that come with being Asian.

To have an advantage, you need to write about how your background as an Asian college applicant helps the equality and equity narrative.

Here are a few examples:

• Your Asian background made being an artist difficult, as there was too much pressure to become an engineer.
• You want to apply to a unqiue, diverse college because you were deprived of that creative expression in a conservative Asian household.
• You don’t fit the Asian stereotype, and that’s exactly why you should be in the college you’re applying for.
• Your Asian background was a disadvantage because, unlike the other wealthy Asian students, you grew up in a less stable and financially struggling household.
• Asian culture made mental health difficult for you. You were disadvantaged because you didn’t have the support system other cultures had.

When admissions officers say they want to provide more advantages to struggling students, they really mean it.

The Asian community is rife with struggle and hardship; so, it’s important that you talk about those hardships. Asian women are often taken less seriously, as they are assumed to be ‘demure’ and ‘submissive’. You can take a pro-feminist approach with this.

Asian men are often emasculated in the media. This is a reality very few people are likely to want to talk about. Both people on the left and right sides of the political spectrum have looked upon Asian masculinity with disdain. You may discuss how lonely it truly is to walk the road of discovering your positive masculinity as an Asian male in the wake of social and gender warfare.

Whichever topic you choose, make sure to show the admissions officers that your Asian identity and background put you in a disadvantaged place. Or, show that your Asian identity and background makes you someone who can be a friend of the equality and equity narrative.

One of the last, but perhaps most important parts, of writing your college essay about being Asian is showing your worth and value as an asset.

We emphasize the importance of this position practically all the time. It’s something that people forget in application essays all the time. They are so focused on talking about themselves and the topic that they forget the admissions essay writing process is also a screening process. There’s nothing wrong with writing about yourself and letting your personality shine through the admissions essays, that’s good!

However, you need to remember that the admissions essays are there to serve as a tool for the admissions officers. You aren’t trying to trick anyone, and you’re not trying to manipulate anyone. By writing your college essay about being Asian, you’re giving your college admissions officers a strong tool to better screen you and your value as an applicant. Thus, you are working with your admissions officers, not against them.

Think of your essay as an appraisal tool. It gives the admissions officers a deeper dive into you as a person as well as your value as a candidate to the school. The admissions office can further see your value and the ROI that comes with investing time and money to educate you.

Therefore, you need to write your college essay about being Asian in a way that shows how you are worth accepting. You can do this by both insinuating the value of having you as well as the negatives that come with rejecting you.

Here’s an example: you are someone who grew up in an upper-middle-class community of Asian American students. There was not a lot of emphasis on Asian culture, and there was too much pressure to succeed academically. Thus, you started an Asian American cultural identity club that brought together Asian communities in celebration of its rich culture.

This topic would insinuate that the people who read this topic would have something to gain. By accepting the student who writes about this topic, they will have a chance of revivifying the Asian culture and identity in their school. By rejecting them, the school runs the risk of losing out on someone who can shed light on Asian culture.

Think about how you, as an Asian applicant, can provide value to the community of the school you’re in. Often, this will intersect with our previous point about adding to the equality and equity narrative. Equality and equity is often focused on Hispanic and Black communities. This leaves a great untapped well of opportunity for Asian inclusion which you may want to capitalize on in your essay.

If you are still struggling to write your college essay about being Asian, consider scheduling a free consultation. We can get back to you within 24 hours for a free essay review and advising session.

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Is writing about being an Asian-American a bad thing for college applications? Answered

I’ve done some research into affirmative action for colleges, but the case with Asian-Americans is particularly taboo. A lot of different sources say a lot of different things. Some places tell me not to check the box on the Common App that states your ethnicity, while others say race isn’t a big deal. Being Asian-American is an important part of me, but I don’t want it to ruin my college chances. I’m currently drafting a supplemental essay about my ethnicity and my struggles but I don’t know if it’ll come off to app readers as overdone. So do you think I should be low-key about my race on my college app to stand out more?

Earn karma by helping others:

Hi there! To answer your questions:

1. Not checking the ethnicity box generally has little impact on your application for Asians. Admissions officers will know your ethnicity by your last name, or your parents' last names, unless you're biracial and have a non-Asian last name, as do your parents.

2. Writing about your struggles with your ethnicity is a cliche essay topic, and it's especially recommended that Asian-Americans avoid this, as it will only draw further attention to their ethnicity when they already have a harder time getting into college. If this aspect of your identity is incredibly meaningful to you, you can still write about it, but you should try to do so in a way that is more unique.

For instance, rather than generally talking about your struggles, you might focus on one aspect of your Asian identity - a South Asian might discuss colorism in their community and their experience with that, for instance. You could also subvert expectations and use the cliche storyline, but then add a twist - i.e. "I struggled to fit in, felt torn between my cultures and languages, so that led to my passion for studying foreign languages, as there was no expectation for fluency in a language not tied to my culture, and that was freeing."

You might find this article helpful: https://blog.collegevine.com/cliche-college-essay-topics/

Hope this helps, and let me know if you have more questions!

The whole application is to showcase who you are as a person, so if your race is a very important part of who you are, write about it. One tip would just be to focus less on the struggles and more on how they affected you & how you grew from them. Hope this helps!

So depending on your name it will not matter what ethnicity you are if you have a blatant name.

As for an essay about being an AA I’m of the opinion of high risk high reward. Some AOs may not like it but others will love it. If you talk about struggles it may be cliche but as an AA I’m unsure. Ask yourself is the essay so unique no one else will have this essay? If so the AA may be a nice difference than the struggles of growing up in a Hispanic area as that is approaching cliche.

Hope this helps and please comment if you need clarification as I’d be happy to help clarify!

Sorry about this comment. I messed up while trying to answer this question, and for some reason, I cannot delete this comment.

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Is it bad to write an essay about Asian (specifically Chinese) identity?

I'm concerned as the topic sorta feels cliche...and that it won't really differentiate me from anyone else. There's another layer to the essay (on like what I want to do in the future with what I do, and what I'm doing right now) but it's based on me understanding my identity. Is anyone in a similar boat?

College Essay about Asian Identity (cliche?)

<p>Hey guys, I know that writing anything about Asian-American identity is really cliche, but has anyone thought of/written about this?</p>

<p>This is a possible response to a common app question: Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.</p>

<p>I wanted to talk about how Asians are under-represented, treated as inferior, and how we really don’t stand up for ourselves against prejudices (like we don’t have our own version of MLK, Malcom X, Caesar Chavez).The only patent Asian rights communities I see are like student-run Asian clubs in colleges. Like basically we are treated as inferior and all this bull, but we don’t really stand up against this “oppression?” And this allows us further to be treated like poop and affirmative action/intentional rejection against Asians in college application process to keep happening…</p>

<p>Sounds cliche?</p>

<p>I’m pretty sure lots of Asians write about this in their college essays.</p>

<p>Even if it is cliche, a well written essay should be fine.</p>

<p>Just be careful.</p>

<p>koreanblood777 -</p>

<p>There is no such thing as a cliched topic, just cliched executions of topics.</p>

<p>Having said that, you NEVER want to talk about how badly you are treated and how miserable you are because of something. Always always always always focus on the good. Yes, you can talk a little bit about how asians are mistreated (underrepresented? I’m not sure if I agree with that part) but you need to quickly turn it around and say what you will do or better yet, are doing, to change it.</p>

<p>If you need anything else, just ask!</p>

<p>Best regards,

• Mike</p>

<p> how Asians are under-represented, treated as inferior, and how we really don’t stand up for ourselves against prejudices… </p>

<p>Nothing like ticking off adcoms who see things differently, have a broader and more mature perspective. “Woe is me” backfires pretty fast. </p>

<p>The danger is not in cliche- it’s in consciously making a choice to present yourself as sour and bitter. (And, just so hs certain of something that’s not certain at all.) Showing the poor judgment to think that is an appropriate topic. Not what they want. You already knew that.</p>

<p>^ lookingforward is correct. That’s basically what I was trying to say. You never want to talk about how unfortunate your life has been. Stay positive because the adcoms could have had a life much more difficult than what you are explaining. By complaining in your essay, you come across as immature and unable to handle stress or pressure.</p>

<p>Hello I’m new here, can someone show me how to post a thread? Thank you</p>

<p>Rick1121 -</p>

<p>Just click the gray button above the first topic on any page. It says ( CC - New Thread ) or something to that effect.</p>

<p>thank you.</p>

<p>I thought about writing on this too, but I think the real danger in this topic is controversy rather than cliche. The director of admissions from Middlebury came to my school to talk about writing essays, and he pretty much said you should avoid likely controversial topics such as race/religion at all costs.</p>

<p>putnamehere -</p>

<p>That is exactly correct. Why risk offending the very people who could put a big REJECT on your application for no reason other than they hated what your essay said?</p>

<p>Thanks for the feedback guys! yeah I really agree with what you guys are saying; I realized that I sound really bitter about this… I definately need something positive =)</p>

<p>Hi! I’m Korean, also, and I think the best essay is a piece of writing that is written in YOUR voice. It really doesn’t matter what you write about. Sure, others can write about the same thing you’re writing about. Your topic may be “cliche,” but their diction, flow, etc, and voice is different; your essay will still be different. So, go for it. [Also, I agree with what that guy ^^ (or girl) said up there. Don’t do the “woe is me” act. They want a view of you, not a diary entry. I can see this topic being executed beautifully, though. Especially how there’s no asian MLK.]</p>

<p>It could be cliche, or it could be lovely. I had a an Asian friend who wrote an essay(I don’t know if it was for the common app or for the supplement) last year about how he loved to eat ramen and watch ninja movies after a long day of studying calculus and physics. He got into one of the top three Liberal Arts colleges(according to USNEWS, don’t wanna give away his identity. And how he didn’t care that he was confirming a major stereotype. </p>

<p>Any topic for an essay can be good or bad, just depends on how you write it.</p>

<p>The biggest thing you should be worried about is that you might come off as bitter. If you can put a positive spin to your topic, then sure, it’ll work.</p>

<p>You can talk about “Asian identity” but NEVER talk about affirmative action in a college essay, especially negatively!</p>

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Faculty Publications: Asian and Asian American Studies - 2024

Ai, R. 2023. “The Semantic Constraint on Gapping in Mandarin Chinese.” Asian Languages and Linguistics 4.1: 1-21.

Coleman, S. K. 2024 “Ineffectual Sermon: Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, by America ” (book review essay).   Journal of Progressive Human Services , 58:1 (in press).

Coleman, S. K. 2024 (February 21).  “American Inequality Isn’t Kid-Friendly.  Los Angeles Times , p.8.

Lin, May. 2023. "“Actually Changing Our Way of Being”: Transformative Organizing and Implications for Critical Community-Engaged Scholarship" Social Sciences  12, no. 10: 562. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12100562

Lin, May with YO! Cali Staff & Youth Power Fund Leaders. 2023. “Equitable Youth Compensation in California Youth Organizing.” YO! Cali. https://yocalifornia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Equitable-Youth-Compensation-in-California-Youth-Organizing-Final.pdf   

Tran, Ann. (Forthcoming 2024). Suspended Spaces of Global Việt Nam: KT Food Stories and Gastro Cartographies of the Inscrutable." Journal of Asian and Asian American Studies, 27  (2).

Zimmerman-Liu, T. (2023). “The Development and Dissemination of Pro-Environmental Dharma among Taiwan’s Humanistic Buddhists. Religions 14: 273. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020273 .

More From Forbes

College essays that worked and how yours can too.

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CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - JULY 08: A view of Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University on ... [+] July 08, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have sued the Trump administration for its decision to strip international college students of their visas if all of their courses are held online. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The college essay is a pivotal piece of the college application showcasing your individuality and differentiated outlook to admissions officers. What makes an essay truly shine? Let’s dive into the words behind three standout essays highlighted by university websites and a school newspaper's brand studio so you can get into the right mindset for crafting your own narrative.

Embracing Differences: Finding Strength In Uniqueness

Essay Excerpt: ‘Bra Shopping ’ (Harvard)

Featured by the Harvard Crimson Brand Studio , Orlee's essay recounts a student's humorous and insightful experience of bra shopping with her grandmother, weaving in her unique family dynamics and challenges at her prestigious school.

What Works:

• Humor and Honesty: The student's humor makes the essay enjoyable to read, while her honesty about her challenges adds depth.
• Self-Awareness: She demonstrates a strong sense of self-awareness, embracing her uniqueness rather than trying to fit in.
• Resilience: Her narrative highlights resilience and the ability to find strength in differences.

For Your Essay : To write an essay that embraces your uniqueness, start by identifying a quirky or challenging experience that reflects who a key insight into your experience. Think about how this experience has shaped your perspective and character. Use humor and honesty to bring your story to life, and focus on how you have embraced your differences to become stronger and more resilient.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, finding connections: humor and self-reflection.

Essay: ‘Brood X Cicadas ’ (Hamilton College)

As an example on Hamilton's admissions website, Nicholas writes about the cicadas swarming his hometown every 17 years and draws a parallel between their emergence and his own transition to college life. He uses humor and self-reflection to create a relatable and engaging narrative.

• Humor: Nicholas uses humor to make his essay entertaining and memorable. His witty comparisons between himself and cicadas add a unique twist.
• Self-Reflection: By comparing his life to the cicadas’, he reflects on his own growth and readiness for change.
• Relatability: His narrative about facing new experiences and challenges resonates with readers who have undergone similar transitions.

For Your Essay: To infuse humor and self-reflection into your essay, start by identifying an ordinary experience or object and think about how it relates to your life. Write down funny or insightful observations about this connection. Use humor to make your essay more engaging, but ensure it still conveys meaningful self-reflection. This balance can make your essay both entertaining and profound.

Persistence and Multicultural Identity: Life Lessons From Tortilla Making

Essay: ‘ Facing The Hot Griddle ’ (Johns Hopkins University)

In this essay published by Hopkins Insider, Rocio uses the process of making tortillas to explore her multicultural identity and the challenges she has faced. Her story beautifully weaves together her Guatemalan heritage and her experiences growing up in the United States.

• Metaphor and Symbolism: The process of making tortillas becomes a powerful metaphor for the student’s journey and struggles. The symbolism of the masa harina and water mixing parallels her blending of cultural identities.
• Personal Growth: The essay highlights her perseverance and adaptability, qualities that are crucial for success in college.
• Cultural Insight: She provides a rich, personal insight into her multicultural background, making her story unique and compelling.

For Your Essay: To write an essay that explores your identity through a metaphor, start by thinking about an activity or tradition that holds significant meaning for you. Consider how this activity relates to your life experiences and personal growth. Use detailed descriptions to bring the activity to life and draw connections between the process and your own journey. Reflect on the lessons you've learned and how they've shaped your identity.

A winning college essay isn’t simply about parading your best accomplishment or dramatizing your challenges. It’s not a contest for which student is the most original or entertaining. Rather, the essay is a chance for you to showcase your authenticity, passion, resilience, social awareness, and intellectual vitality . By sharing genuine stories and insights, you can create an essay that resonates with admissions committees and highlights your unique qualities.

For you to have the best possible essay, mindset is key. Here’s how to get into the zone:

• Reflect Deeply: Spend time thinking about your experiences, challenges, and passions. Journaling can help you uncover deep insights.
• Discuss and Share: Talking about your stories with friends, family, or mentors can provide new perspectives and emotional clarity.
• Immerse Yourself: Engage in activities that you are passionate about to reignite the feelings and memories associated with them.
• Draft Freely: Don’t worry about perfection on the first try. Write freely and honestly, then refine your narrative.

The secret to a standout college essay lies in its authenticity, depth, and emotional resonance. By learning from these successful examples and getting into the right mindset, you can craft an essay that not only stands out but also provides a meaningful insight into who you are. Remember, your essay is your story—make it a piece of writing that you will always be proud of.

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